Rochy FNC seeking to reconnect community

IN smaller country towns the football and netball club can be the heart and soul that brings the community together, gathering at the local rec reserve every other Saturday to cheer on their team.

In the aftermath of last year’s floods Rochester Football and Netball Club is aiming to be that heart and soul this season and help the community heal.

Club president Justin Cleary said a sign-up drive is currently underway in the hopes of getting memberships to as many Rochester residents as possible.

“Our campaign is based around encouraging people to buy a membership for Rochester,” he said. “But they can also buy a family membership or a membership for a Rochester person.

“We’ve got the two price points and that’s for us to then give out free memberships this year to the Rochester locals.

“There are approximately 3000 people from Rochy with a view to try to give them access to the football and netball for free to come and connect with other people.”

Mr Cleary said it was important to try and get the community back together.

“There’s a reality that football’s probably one of the places where people get together on mass,” he said. “And we’ve got a very dislocated community at the moment.

“We’re hoping with those free memberships people will come and connect and feel like they’re part of the community again.”

As part of that reconnection, there’s more than just an average day at the football and netball the club has planned on game day.

“On the back of that we’ll be putting on some sort of other events around our football games,” said Mr Cleary. “They might be as simple as kids’ events, some face painting, maybe some rides.

“But we will try to have access to some mental health programs at our games for the community.

“It might be a more natural, organic place for people just to come and check in and have a talk to someone.”

To purchase a membership for yourself or for a member of the Rochester community, you can get in contact with the Club via their Facebook page.