By Oliver Lees
The resilient Kyneton District Soccer Club has been named Football Victoria’s Regional Club of the Year.
The club was announced as the award recipient on November 8.
In a statement, Football Victoria lauded the club’s commitment to inclusion and its strides toward achieving equal gender representation across their club.
According to club president Ron Cole, the female program has grown from 25 in 2013, to 132 in 2021. Women and girls now make up 42 per cent of the club’s total members.
Cole said the club was ecstatic to be recognised after two challenging years.
“It’s been a fantastic reward for the club and committee, a lot of work with COVID-19 situation to keep people engaged with the club and wanting to come back and play,” he said.
“Every time we had an update from Football Victoria [on COVID-19 restrictions], we put all the information on social media to all our members so they knew where we were at and what we were trying to do.”
Cole said the biggest issues facing the club recently had largely been out of its control.
In 2020, neither of Kyneton’s senior outfits were able to take to the field for a single game due to public health measures.
Although things improved slightly this season, the senior teams still missed nine matches from their scheduled season.
But even despite the absence of games, Cole said the club’s members and sponsors remained loyal to the club.
“We actually saw an increase [in players], which is fantastic,” he said.
“We had a good uptake with the MiniRoos and that was able to get up and going for some time.
“We’ve had sponsors come on board in the past two years who have stuck with us and been absolutely amazing.
“We probably couldn’t have been in this situation without them.”
Cole said the club has also been working with Macedon Ranges council to secure funding to upgrade facilities.
In March it was revealed that the club should have received $460,000 to upgrade its oval and improve drainage as part of the Community Infrastructure Grants program but was ultimately overlooked.
“We’re now looking at the World Game Facilities Fund which is a soccer specific fund, so we’re hopeful to get something out of that,” Cole said.
Cole estimated the works to resurface two pitches and improve irrigation would cost $750,000.
Cole said the club is on the lookout for more players as it looks to start preseason in December.
Details: kynetonsoccer@bigpond.com
