Scott Weston is leading a unified club to support development pathways and inclusivity. Photos: Corrimal Rangers FC.
A Corrimal football club will now be able to offer a performance pathway for young players, with hopes to also grow and develop more inclusive opportunities, as the senior and junior clubs amalgamate to ensure a 134-year legacy continues.
Conversations about combining Corrimal Rangers Football Club and Corrimal Rangers Junior Soccer date back years, but at the end of last season, the need for action took an urgent turn.
“There was an issue with Corrimal Rangers Football Club as they were unable to get together a committee at the recent AGM, that’s how this really started,” newly elected president of the unified club Scott Weston said.
“And what that means is that they had a period of time to have a special resolution to form an executive committee otherwise the club with a 134-year history would have had to dissolve.”
With high stakes but also great potential, the junior club was desperate to find a lifeline.
“Us as the junior committee and also many members of the club and the community saw that happening and thought we can’t let a club with so much history and so much involvement in the community to disband,” Scott said.
“We all rallied together and went, ‘Let’s save this club’.
The clubs officially merged with a new committee made up of members from both junior and senior sides as well as long-serving life members and former executives actively involved with advising and supporting.
Parent and coach Scott Weston has taken on the challenge as the new president of the amalgamated club.
And after four years with the club as a parent and coach, Scott is prepared to be at the helm of the landmark change.
“We have very experienced, knowledgeable, educated people in these roles with a lot of life experience that we can draw on support from many different members,” Scott said.
“I’d love to have a go at this and put some of my expertise into it in the way of leveraging my business acumen and my experience of project management and my love and passion just for sport in general and more so football.
“I saw it as a chance for me to help the club as a whole.”
Football South Coast CEO Ann-Marie Balliana said she was excited to see how the club progressed under the unified model and structure.
“A key strategic priority of Football South Coast has been to promote the integration of clubs within the region,” Ann-Marie said. “We have seen the key success factors of many clubs that have integrated which includes growth, increased volunteer engagement, better access to funding and grants and improved pathways for players and coaches.”
Scott hopes young players will be inspired by seeing a pathway into seniors.
The merger allows a clear development pathway from junior to senior teams within the club, but there will also be a fresh focus on inclusivity, with a target already set to increase female participation by 20 per cent over the next three years.
“Our intention wholeheartedly is to have everyone involved; we want to unite this club and really show that it’s an inclusive environment, we want to foster all avenues of life to be involved in this,” Scott said.
“We aren’t only looking at the current club itself in the members and participants but we really want to grow this club and fill multiple age groups, look especially at females in football – that’s a big part of our plans going forward; we really want to see that side of the club grow.
“And then look into how we include people with disability as well, whether it’s through volunteering or could be through walking football programs.
“Just really trying to get all avenues of the community involved and supporting it.”
But their first point of action is creating a strong governance and connection to ensure the strength and longevity of the club.
“There’s a lot of that networking and understanding and getting on the pathway to really ensure that our club is really meeting the objectives and initiatives of Football South Coast, the council, Football NSW and Football Australia,” Scott said.
“We see with that and showing the community we’re a club that’s organised, easy to be part of, community orientated, inclusive and welcoming, we really believe that will just then foster recruitment of players, participants and volunteers as well.”
They are now connecting with local businesses and community partners with sponsorship opportunities to support the grassroots sport now open.
For more information on sponsorship or getting involved with the club visit the Corrimal Rangers FC website or email [email protected]
