Club aims to grow gridiron intrigue

THOUGH cricket, footy, and netball clubs are a common sight for any rural locale, you might not know an American rules football team is operating in the region.

Members of the Melton Wolves Gridiron Club are looking to make their existence known to more people across the Moorabool and Ballarat regions.

The club’s sole quarterback Blake D’ascola joined the team around preseason in August.

He said after more than decade primarily playing Aussie rules football, he was keen to try a more unique sport.

“I think as you get older, you get sick of playing your average Aussie sports, so I wanted to try something different and this popped across on my Instagram,” he said.

“It’s a pretty unspoken sport in Australia but it’s getting bigger. What attracts me is the athleticism and that it involves everyone.

“It’s the way the sport’s run, the strategy side of it, and how it doesn’t matter about your size and shape that I find cool about it.”

The club practices twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at MacPherson Park from around 6pm to 9pm.

Consisting of between 15 and 20 players, members are based as far as Ararat with about five travelling from Ballarat, and others from Bacchus Marsh and Melton.

D’ascola said more 30 people are needed to comfortably play a game of gridiron.

“At the moment we’re playing iron man football so out of the 16 people we’re getting to play, it’s 11 on the field and we end up having to field both sides,” he said.

“The numbers is probably the killer, and because it’s such a niche sport, you get one team with the top-level coaches in areas that are more populated.

“A key goal for us is to shine a spotlight on the sport. We have the firepower, we’ve got the players, we just need more numbers.”

The Wolves are one of three clubs around north and west regional groups affiliated with the Gridiron Victoria League, alongside the Bendigo Dragons and the Geelong Buccaneers.

The club will soon be one of several to benefit from an upgrade project for MacPherson Park’s ruby pavilion of which works are scheduled to begin next year.

“I’m hoping that helps us be more exposed and with getting the word out,” D’ascola said.

“We’d like to be able to run into winter with a training program and we’re trying to get involved into a youth program with Gridiron Victoria to get a few young people aware of the sports.

“It’s about finding every sort of pathway to grow the sport.”