Caroline Springs Football Club was celebrated at the annual Good Sports Awards at Parliament House in Canberra, named runner-up for the Good Sports National Safe Transport Award.
The national Good Sports Awards celebrate Australia’s best community sporting clubs and volunteers, for their commitment to building healthy and inclusive club environments, and their work with the Alcohol and Drug Foundation’s Good Sports program in tackling topics like alcohol, illicit drugs, smoking, mental health and safe transport.
Caroline Springs Football Club was recognised for putting the safety of its members as top priority by implementing transport policies to ensure everyone gets home safe.
The club’s child safety officer Krystal Delanty said the club’s focus on road safety came after the tragic loss of one of the club’s coaches in a road traffic accident.
“This loss heavily affected our club and the community, leading us to start heavily promoting road safety and transport to our members,” she said.
“We’ve utilised our social media channels and scoreboard during games to promote safe transport messages to as many people as possible.
“This season, we held a road safety education session with Victoria Police, where officers spoke to players and their parents about distractions whilst driving.
“Additionally, for the last couple of seasons, we’ve hired a bus to transport our guests to our mid-season ball to avoid the risk of drink driving.”
The Alcohol and Drug Foundation’s Victoria manager Mona Malouf said the club should be incredibly proud of its achievements.
“These award recipients are shining examples of the Good Sports program which is helping build a healthier sporting nation by supporting clubs to be the very best they can be,” she said.
Working with almost 12,000 community sports clubs, including over 3,300 in Victoria, Good Sports is Australia’s largest community health sports program.
In Victoria, it’s managed by the Alcohol and Drug Foundation and funded by the federal government.
The recent ‘Celebrating 25 Years’ impact report, highlights the powerful impacts of the Good Sports program, including the reduction of risky drinking at participating clubs by 37 per cent, with a 42 per cent reduction in alcohol-related harms.
Gerald Lynch
