	{"id":85444,"date":"2022-09-26T04:57:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-25T18:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/?p=85444"},"modified":"2022-09-20T14:18:10","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T04:18:10","slug":"gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\/","title":{"rendered":"Gridiron season kicks off at Epsom"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">SACKS, spirals and touchdowns will return to Bendigo on Saturday, 1 October for the start of the Gridiron Victoria season.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Eight teams will compete in four games over two fields at the Epsom Huntly Recreation Reserve, marking the Bendigo Dragons Gridiron Club\u2019s return to the league after not playing since 2019.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Secretary, head coach and punter Thomas Prince, said the club is in a rebuild period, with about 80 per cent of team having never played a game before.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">He said he is excited however to see what the new season has in store.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe\u2019re trying to re-engage some guys that have had a bit of a break but also trying to inspire and encourage new guys to come and give it a go,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of work done in the last two years to no avail, so to be rewarded for the persistence and to see the rebuild continue is going to be such a relief.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cRound one is going to be huge, and we can\u2019t wait to get people out here to check it out.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">A full day of entertainment has been planned, with a coffee van, dunk tank, cheerleaders, marching band, and Chinese lions set for the event.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">Prince said it will be a good chance for potential new players to check out the sport.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">He said also whether you\u2019re interested in throwing, kicking, catching, or tackling, there\u2019s a spot in the team for you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cYou can be anyone and you can come in here and fit comfortably compared to a lot of traditional Australian sport cultures where if you\u2019re not one of the sporty jocks it\u2019s hard to find a place,\u201d Prince said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWe can have a bit more of an inclusive culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400\">To get involved search Bendigo Dragons Gridiron Club on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SACKS, spirals and touchdowns will return to Bendigo on Saturday, 1 October for the start of the Gridiron Victoria season. Eight teams will compete in four games over two fields at the Epsom Huntly Recreation Reserve, marking the Bendigo Dragons Gridiron Club\u2019s return to the league after not playing since 2019. Secretary, head coach and [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":185,"featured_media":85445,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-85444","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gridiron season kicks off at Epsom - Bendigo Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gridiron season kicks off at Epsom - Bendigo Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"SACKS, spirals and touchdowns will return to Bendigo on Saturday, 1 October for the start of the Gridiron Victoria season. Eight teams will compete in four games over two fields at the Epsom Huntly Recreation Reserve, marking the Bendigo Dragons Gridiron Club\u2019s return to the league after not playing since 2019. Secretary, head coach and [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/bendigotimes\/news\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Bendigo Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-09-25T18:57:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/24\/2022\/09\/DSC_0326-scaled-e1663647461333.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jonathon Magrath\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jonathon Magrath\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jonathon Magrath\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2cdab3faaf6adb4dd0a7be4fa1d07894\"},\"headline\":\"Gridiron season kicks off at Epsom\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-25T18:57:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":312,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/DSC_0326-scaled-e1663647461333.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/\",\"name\":\"Gridiron season kicks off at Epsom - Bendigo Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/DSC_0326-scaled-e1663647461333.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-09-25T18:57:58+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/bendigotimes\\\/news\\\/gridiron-season-kicks-off-at-epsom\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/DSC_0326-scaled-e1663647461333.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/24\\\/2022\\\/09\\\/DSC_0326-scaled-e1663647461333.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707,\"caption\":\"Rebuilding: Bendigo Dragons Gridiron Club players put in work during a practice session ahead of round one of the Gridiron Victoria league. 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