WITH their next football game happening on home turf, members of the Ballarat Bulldogs Football Netball Club are calling on the community to cheer the team on during their semi-final match.<\/p>\n
The club is set to go up against the Cranbourne Eagles at White Flat Oval this Sunday.<\/p>\n
With the majority of their games played in Melbourne and surrounds this season, the club\u2019s football manager and committee secretary Lexie Hardman said she wants to see the full support of Ballarat behind them.<\/p>\n
\u201cA home semi-final means hopefully we can get the support of the whole Ballarat community that can come out and watch,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019ll be a good display of football under the FIDA rules. We\u2019ve had a big turnout with the locals before.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople would be surprised to see the all-abilities guys. What they can do with their football is amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ballarat Bulldogs play in the Football Integration Development Association, a competition for players with intellectual disability, and were previously known as the Northern Knights until 2016.<\/p>\n
The majority of FIDA games take place fortnightly throughout the AFL season.<\/p>\n
Should they win the upcoming match, the Bulldogs will go on to play the grand final match in Coburg next weekend.<\/p>\n
With training taking place on Wednesday nights, Ms Hardman said the club\u2019s home game is a great reward for a well-played season.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe team have been working all year for this. If they finished first or second, they knew they\u2019d get a home game,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had about two or three here in July but most have been in Melbourne. The furthest we\u2019ve gone is Ferntree Gully and Ringwood. St Albans has probably been the closest for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn regards to their disabilities, it means so much to their mental strength having a home final and to get over the Melbourne teams.\u201d<\/p>\n
The semi-final match will run from 1pm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WITH their next football game happening on home turf, members of the Ballarat Bulldogs Football Netball Club are calling on the community to cheer the team on during their semi-final match. The club is set to go up against the Cranbourne Eagles at White Flat Oval this Sunday. With the majority of their games played […]<\/p>\n