In order for Junior team matches to proceed each week, each team needs the assistance of parents to be involved in some ‘refereeing’ capacity.

Small Sided Football (SSF)

For Small-Sided Football (SSF) U8/9′s, U10′s, U11′s matches, the home team is required to provide an Instructing Referee. In conjunction with the FFV, Eltham Redbacks has arranged an Instructing Referee course to be conducted at the club room onSaturday 16th April from 10am to 11am. We would like to see as many parents to attend as possible. As a minimum, there should be at least 3 to 4 parents from each team attending the training.

Instructing Referee course – this is a one hour FREE course designed to prepare people aged 13 and up (including mums and dads) to referee at SSF games.

REMEMBER:

• Each team needs to provide its own Instructing Referee every home game
• It is unfair to expect just one parent to be the Instructing Referee each home game throughout the season. They want to enjoy watching their child play as well
• Attending the Instructing Referee course will help you understand the SSF rules as well. You can teach your son or daughter the correct rules
• Don’t just stand on the sideline and ‘hide’, get involved and help your team. Makes it more enjoyable for everyone and ultimately the enjoyment of the junior players

RSVP to secretary@elthamredbacksfc.org.au

Club Assistant Referee Course (‘running the line’)

For junior matches U12′s and up, the team is required to provide an assistant referee to ‘run the line’. In conjunction with the FFV, Eltham Redbacks has arranged a Club Assistant Referee course to be conducted at the club room on Saturday 16th April from 11am to 12.30pm. Again, we would like to see as many parents to attend as possible. As a minimum, there should be at least 3 to 4 parents from each team attending the training.

Club Assistant Referee course – this is a 1.5 hour FREE course designed to inform people who ‘run the line’ for their club of the expectations of the role.

REMEMBER:

• Each team needs to provide its own Assistant Referee at every game
• It is unfair to expect just one parent to be running the line every game throughout the season. They want to enjoy watching their child play as well
• Attending the Assistant Referee course will also help you understand the off-side rule as well. You can teach your son or daughter the correct rules
• Again, don’t just stand on the sideline and ‘hide’, get involved and help your team. Makes it more enjoyable for everyone and ultimately the enjoyment of the junior players. Not knowing how to do it is no longer a valid excuse

RSVP to secretary@elthamredbacksfc.org.au

Excitement is building in anticipation for the holiday program run by former New Zealand All White, Vaughan Coveny.

The Football Federation of Victoria website, the central repository for all football players and administrators in Victoria, has featured the program to be run through Eltham Redbacks Football Club supporting the initiative and promoting our club.

We are very proud of the opportunity to support the football program and hope to see a lot of our players in attendance!

We are very excited to announce the first home game of the season will be the Provisional 3 South East League men versus Collingwood on April 9th at 7pm (5pm for Reserves). Of course this just so happens to coincide with shirt presentation for the entire club! It was a great game and a great night in 2010, so come down, grab your shiny new Redbacks strip and watch a great game of local football.

Click to download the schedule of strip presentation times

At this week’s committee meeting two items were raised for general communication to members:

• There will be a boot-swap held April 3rd from 10am-11am. Children’s feet grow faster than boots wear out! Bring down your second-hand boots which are still in good condition to swap with similarly frustrated parents.
• The club needs participation from parents at all levels to form a working group to coordinate social events – in particular the mid-season function. Please contact us if you want to be a part of that group. Many hands make light work!

As always the committee is looking for committed members, particularly for registrations, treasury and communications. Join us in building a stable and well-organised club. Contact us to find out when the next meeting is.

Eltham Redbacks FC is excited that Vaughan Coveny (NZ All White, played for Newcastle Jets and Wellington Phoenix in the A-League, Played for South Melbourne FC) is joining the coaching faculty at our club – for more info about Vaughan’s background see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaughan_Coveny

Apart from coaching one of the junior teams, Vaughan will be conducting a Holiday Program during the April school holidays.

Please download the Holiday Program flyer for more information. If you are interested in participating then register at www.trybooking.com/nqk

Early bird registration: Register to attend the holiday program by 31st March for a chance to wina copy of EA Sports FIFA 11 game.

Vaughan will also be conducting the Advanced Skills Program during the season. Stay tuned for more details.

With over 700 members at the club this year the provision of physical receipt or electronic confirmation of payment is a logistical challenge for our volunteer committee.

The best way to check if the Club has received and processed your payment is by checking the status of the player on your MyFootballClub account. The player status will change from ‘Pending’ to ‘Active’ if payment has been received and processed by the registrars.

Please keep in mind that the turn-around from the time you pay via online bank transfer to the time the registrars process the player registration is typically 4-5 days due to the communication required between treasurer/assistant and registrars.

For images from MyFootballClub showing where to look for the status change click through to our Payment confirmation memo

Hi Redbacks

Our junior teams are mostly full with only a handful of spaces remaining.  Below is a listing of the status of teams

U5 to U7 – places still available in these three age groups

U8/U9 – 10 teams, all full

U10 – 3 teams, all full

U11 – 3 teams, 3 places available (as of publication)

U12 – 3 teams, all full

U13 – 2 teams, almost full

U14 – 2 teams, almost full

U10/U11 girls – 2 teams, 4 places available (as of publication)

U12 girls – places available

U14 girls – 1 team, all full

For age groups U15 and above please make contact via our contacts page (registrar)

Dear ERFC Over 45s Players,

I know you are all aware that the club now has an over 45 / veterans pool of players!

This year we will continue to play in a privately run over 45s league that will enter its fourth season

The league usually consists of 6 teams and ERFC will be entering two teams: the Reds and Blacks.

I am therefore sending a final invitation to anyone in the club who has reached the age of 45 and may wish to enter a less competitive environment.

We need to know now if you wish to explore this option as squads are being planned for the upcoming season

We do realise that many of you have already chosen to remain in the player pools run by Fab and Phil (Big Kidz and Masters/Over 35′s) but would like to offer this final opportunity if for some reason you were not aware of it

If I don’t hear from you I will respect that you have chosen to continue playing in your chosen squads.

With Best Regards

Bob Messenger
ERFC Over 45s Committee Member
over45s@elthamredbacksfc.org.au

Dear Redback Member,

ERFC has a long and proud history since its inception in 1967 and is now one of the largest football clubs in the north east with over 700 players represented in circa 40 men’s and women’s teams starting from the age of 5 through to senior men and women. This year the club will have seven men’s senior teams, two women’s teams and around 32 junior/sub-junior squads. We are also pleased to announce the commencement of three veteran’s teams in 2011.

With the increased interest of junior and senior players wanting to play the world game, also the most popular amateur sport in Australia, the Eltham Redbacks are now seeking the support of local businesses to help the Club in partnering to build a community asset that meets the growing demand of a well run family orientated community football club.

The club is now looking to bring on board new sponsors for 2011 and beyond. There are several sponsorship opportunities available to gain additional exposure for your business by tapping into a large member base, supporters and the broader community by partnering with the Eltham Redbacks FC.

Please download the 2011 Eltham Redbacks FC sponsorship pack for your consideration. Whether you are a business owner, or if the business you work for may be interested in supporting the club, please take the opportunity to consider the various sponsorship packages available and come with us on a journey you will not forget nor regret. All sponsors, of any level, will be well promoted to over 1,500 members, players and parents who will be encouraged to support our sponsors in whatever capacity possible.

We encourage all members take an active role in promoting the club by contacting local businesses that you have a relationship with, and ask them to support our club. The more sponsors we have, greater becomes the awareness of our club in the community. In addition, as the club grows, the need to financial support many of the club’s activities will be dependent on our sponsorship programme.

All sponsorship enquiries should be addressed to sponsorship manager and vice-president, Ivan Dalla Costa, at sponsorship@elthamredbacksfc.org.au

Thank-you for your on-going support.

Ivan Dalla Costa, Vice-President

(As published in the Diamond Valley Leader)

Eltham Redbacks Football Club player Keely Lockhart has enjoyed unprecedented success in the 2010-11 Football Federation of Victoria Champions League competition over the summer.

Lockhart, 11, played two age groups above her own to compete with the U13 girls North Diamonds – the local representative club for the Nillumbik area in the highest level possible intrastate competition.

The North East Diamonds U13 girls team went on to win the Champions League undefeated while Lockhart herself claimed the Golden Boot medallion with 14 goals for the tournament as well as the Best & Fairest medallion for the entire competition.

Lockhart was presented with her award and interviewed at Etihad Stadium prior to the Melbourne Victory vs. Melbourne Heart derby on Saturday, 22nd of January, in front of a crowd of over 32,000 spectators.

The Eltham Redbacks have a full compliment of girls teams from U7 through to two senior womens teams.

With the success of the Matildas national football team the Redbacks committee has seen a growth in female players in recent years and have endeavoured to promote the world game locally as a great sport for girls.