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Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz |
A sports item on SunLive last week caught Sideline Sid's attention – with the Otumoetai Football Club celebrating their 50th anniversary during the weekend.
Being at a loose end on Saturday afternoon, the old fella wandered down to Fergusson Park to catch some of the on-field action.
The senior game between the home-side and Tauranga City attracted a solid core of supporters, who were well rugged up against the usual winter breeze that wafts across Ferguson Park in the afternoon.
The game was played in good spirit with the occasional 'hey ref” from the sideline punctuating the chilly air.
Much had changed in the intervening years, since the first football was first kicked in combat at the Otumoetai Football Club.
The bridge linking Chapel St with Otumoetai was constructed about 1960, with the previous trips to Matua being a journey up Waihi Rd and through Brookfield.
Up until the mid-1960s, the region of Matua, where Ferguson Park is situated, was better known as the Levers Rd area after the family that originally farmed it.
Today, the Otumoetai Football Club is the largest football club in the Western Bay of Plenty, providing competition from mini football for five-seven-year-olds through to senior and social football.
From the beginning the club's enjoyed strong links with Otumoetai College, which was established around the same time.
In today's age, the first port of call for many is to check out an organisation's website for information.
While much is made about the web to find and impart information, the reality is many sporting clubs pay lip service to regular and updated information on their website. Not so the Otumoetai Football Club.
A fully comprehensive website, with a myriad of information on teams, draws, results and points tables, is just the beginning.
What I particularly like is the club Information section. Here one can find club sponsors, who are on the club committee, structure, policies and meeting dates along with some football-specific information.
While there are the two heavyweights of any club, being the constitution and strategic plan – the club structure section should be compulsory reading for the adult volunteers and supporters of the Otumoetai Football Club.
The responsibilities and duties of the president, administrators and treasurer along with the football and equipment coordinators, club captains and delegates are set out in a clear and concise manner. Likewise, the policies segment lays out the code of conduct and health and safety requirements of the club.
While documentation doesn't solve the situation of people holding different points of view, it's a good starting point in resolving differences that can split clubs apart.
One small part of the website that grabbed my attention was about Grasshoppers Soccer. It appears it's a relatively new initiative, where two-four-year-olds are given a taste of football in a fun environment. The beauty of introductory football is it teaches ball skills that can be transferred to other games and activities as the youngsters mature.