Bob was previously the Head Coach of the Football Federation Victoria’s Emerging Athlete Program and Assistant Coach of the Melbourne Victory Women’s team.

Bob has had a successful playing and coaching career in Australia that spans more than 35 years including playing for Sydney City and South Melbourne in the National Soccer League. Bob has had a successful coaching career including being a Victorian State coach at the Australian National Junior Championships and being voted as the 2007 Women’s Premier League Coach of the Year.
The President and the Committee welcomes Bob back to the club where Bob has previously coached the club’s Women’s Premier League team and various junior girls’ teams.  The club wishes him well for Season 2012 and are looking forward to a bright future for the club’s women’s program under Bob’s leadership and mentoring.

After promotion from last season Eltham Redbacks FC is a club on the move and would be a great environment for a player that wants to succeed and make their mark on a team that is going places. Please forward any enquiries to info@elthamredbacksfc.org.au

Welcome to 2012 and another exciting football season. The Committee is up and running again and we hope that you’re as ready to go as we are!

There is a lot of info here – please take the time to consider everything in this email!

Senior/Veteran/Masters men/women: This message does not apply to you. You will deal directly with your group coordinators. Your coach will contact you shortly about beginning pre-season training.

Online registration is now available – it’s your first port of call if you want to play this year. Please read the guide ( player guide ), particularly if you get stuck. It is important that all players register prior to the first grading date planned to commence on Thursday 9^th February.

Registering players are requested to pay by the 28th February. This deadline is required by the committee to satisfy our uniform and equipment purchasing – our largest expense early in the season.

We are running an Information Day on Sunday, Feb 12th, 11am-2pm. This is targeting new parents and players who are keen to chat one-on-one with a Committee member. It is not necessary for returning members re-registering – the easy approach is online registration followed by payment.

Junior Team Grading It’s really important we get the majority of the junior club to these grading trials to make sure they are playing in the right team at the right level to be competitive and enjoy their football this season. The technical director Murray Ovens and the team coaches will assess player ability and provide a feedback document.

It important to attend both grading sessions. Please bring shin-guards, boots, runners and a drink bottle and arrive 20 minutes before your allocated time

Here’s the timetable:   (click here for a printer friendly version) – all sessions at our home ground (Wattletree Rd)

Competing in their respective A-leagues in 2012 will be U18 boys U15 boys, U13 boys and U14 girls.

Coaches for these teams are interested in all players that want to challenge themselves to play at this level in 2012.

Please contact admin@elthamredbacksfc.org.au to register your interest in these groups.

Click the link under “Registration” and follow the instructions (available as a PDF download).  Note that this year coaches need to register as well as players.

Credit card payments are also available via the online registration system.

Ivan was previously the Senior Football Coach at La Trobe University. In season 2011, La Trobe University was a Silver Medallist at the Southern States Games, a Semi Finalist at the Australian University Games and finished 4th nationally out of all the Australian Universities competing for the Australian Universities Championship. Prior to this position, Ivan was the Senior Coach at Yarraville competing in the Victorian State League Division 3 North West. During his playing days, Ivan represented Victoria at youth level and also played in the VPL.

The President and the Committee welcomes Ivan to the club and wish him well for Season 2012.

Pre-season training for the Men’s PL3 team has already begun. All players (new or existing) over the age of 15 who are looking to play senior football in 2012 are required to attend. Please forward any enquiries to admin@elthamredbacksfc.org.au

We have football programs for children as young as 3 years old and we are also a strong girls football club (one of only a handful of Melbourne clubs to field all girls teams in U9 & U11).

As the 5th biggest football club in Victoria we are well placed to give your child a wonderful football experience in 2012.

GO REDBACKS !!!

A big congratulations to the Women’s SL3 team in particular for an outstanding season and congratulations to the following players on their hard-earned awards.

Women State League 3 North West

Player of the Year – Kate Hodgson
Runner-up Player of the Year – Laruen Brazzale
Coach’s Award – Nakita Anderson

Women Metropolitan League

Player of the Year – Sarah Paoli
Runner-up Player of the Year – Ellen David
Golden Boot – Nicole Licastro

Men Provisional League 3 South East

Player of the Year – Leith Robertson
Runner-up Player of the Year – Ryan ‘Pinky’ Adams
Coach’s Award – Chris ‘OJ’ Jones

Men Provisional League 3 South East Reserves

Player of the Year -Andrew Lamers
Runner-up Player of the Year – Nathan Jones
Coach’s Award – Nick Lyell

Men Thirds 3 North West

Player of the Year – Ben Telford
Runner-up Player of the Year – Ben Gutteridge
Coach’s Award – Tom Inman

Thirds 5 South East

Player of the Year – Brian Gardner
Runner-up Player of the Year – Gary Frost
Coach’s Award – Naylyn Gaffney

Congratulations for your hard work and we look forward to 2012 with some great new recruits across the board and with the women now competing in State League 2 NW after their promotion!

Brendan Mulcahy with the Kavieng United FC he coached for a month (Click for full size)

By Brendan Mulcahy

Whilst many Australians associate the country of Papua New Guinea with violence and crime, as depicted frequently in the media, in fact the land of the bird of paradise is a place of beautiful scenery and beautiful people.  So what better place to play “the beautiful game”?

In September this year I chose to undertake my final year, 5-week medical elective placement in the North Eastern islands of PNG, assisting at the Kavieng General Hospital in the capital of the PNG province of New Ireland.   I am finishing my final year of my medical degree at Monash University and am permitted to organise a medical elective anywhere in the world.

It was the activities outside of the local hospital that allowed me the best opportunity to engage with the local community.  Having been an Eltham Redbacks centre forward for 5 years and top goal scorer for both club and league in 2010, it was the local football (or in Papua New Guinea “soccer”) culture that proved a common language in a foreign land.

Each Sunday a crowd would gather around the local soccer field to cheer on and support the dozens of local senior men’s and women’s football teams.  The competition was much better organised than I had expected to find in PNG, as both rugby and AFL are also very popular codes.  One of the clubs invited me to join their weekly training, and armed with a bag of equipment donated by the Redbacks including training bibs, cones and balls, I coached their senior men’s team for over a month.  Kavieng United Football Club fields two senior men’s teams and one woman’s team each weekend across 3 different leagues.  ‘Alfred’ the Head Coach has up to 40 senior players under his instruction at any one time.  Without floodlighting the teams can only train between 5pm when the players finish work and 6pm when daylight fades, so to allow themselves enough hours of training each week, they train Monday to Thursday, with a game each Sunday afternoon.

There is fantastic raw talent amongst the young men of Papua New Guinea, the same inbuilt athleticism we come to expect of Australia’s own indigenous youth.  But limited resources including a lack of balls, basic equipment and facilities restricts football from reaching its true potential in PNG.  The young men usually train either in thongs or bare foot, saving the rare and expensive soccer boots for weekend matches.  However, with the introduction of even the most basic training equipment including cones to mark out training drills and bibs to divide the players, one Redbacks striker was able to improve the tackling, possession football and finishing so much over the month that on my final weekend in Kavieng, the men’s team played the league leaders and defeated them 7-5 in a thrilling match that stayed close, with scores tied at 3-3, until after half-time when United blew the league title race wide open with by taking an insurmountable 7-3 lead with 15 minutes to play.  And at the end of 90 minutes, to the roar of the local spectators and against a backdrop of lush tropical jungle, for the 11 men of Kavieng United Football Club, the win over their local rivals felt as good as winning any professional competition anywhere else in the world.

A big congratulations to the following players and coaches at the Diamonds:

Players
U13 Girls – Zoe Houghton, Keely Lockhart & Eleanor Wiley
U14 Boys – Charlie Bosjnak-Hudson & Patrick O’Connor
U15 Boys – James Ignatidis
U17 Boys – Max Cornford

Coaches
Head Zone Coach – Vaughan Coveny
U14 Boys – Head Coach – Jason Czorny
U14 Boys – Assistant Coach – Andrew ‘Kenta’ Kentapozidis
U14 Boys – Team Manager – Simon Garlick
Goalkeeper coach – Santo Dell`Aquila

This is a really great effort and representation in the Diamonds from our club and we look forward to keeping tabs on these teams over the summer so good luck with the remainder of the summer season!

Also, a big congratulations to one of our talented players Angus Wiley who was recently selected for the FFA Skill Acquisiton Program. This is a huge achievement for Angus and for our club, being selected  from a large group of talented 8 to 11 year old players for this program (Angus is 10yo this year).

Well done to all of these players and coaches on their achievements!

Maximus is U16′s player Karl Rumoro’s brother – Karl of course now has the nickname ‘Plasma’ in the men after accidentally smashing a TV at the men’s away game in Baxter earlier during the season (after it was carelessly balanced against a chair in a busy area).

Great work Maximus! The Committee loves your choice of ink.

If you have a photo that you would like to share with the club do not hesitate to email us! admin@elthamredbacksfc.org.au

Maximus with his Redback (click for full-size)

]]> http://elthamredbacksfc.org.au/maximus-gets-some-redback-face-paint/feed/ 0