Good Sports grant helps fill the volunteer gap

Exclusive to registered Good Sports clubs in Tasmania, the grants are designed to help clubs improve the health and wellbeing of members. The new round for 2023 is now open until January 31.

Located in the heart of Hobart, the club is a popular community-based AFL club. They field 11 teams from Auskick to Junior Boys and Girls, Under 19s, Reserves, Senior Men and Masters. The club has more than 650 members with thousands visiting its clubrooms each year.

Upskilling members at Hobart Football Club

Hobart Football Club President, Josh Munting, says the training grant helped fill a big gap in having enough volunteers who are able to serve alcohol at club events.

“It can be tough getting volunteers and having people to help out takes out the cost burden on community sporting clubs.”

“The grant helped us to continue to comply with the responsible service of alcohol legislation and to have more names to call on. Having more volunteers is important for our club going forward.”

“We promoted the opportunity as free training. It was seen as a chance for players to pick up a new skillset that could be an entry point for other employment.”

Josh said that including a couple of senior players in the training gave them a new perspective on club events from the other side of the bar.

The majority of the club’s players are aged 18 to 21 years, who are in an at-risk age group for healthy drinking habits. Key points from the RSA training were passed on to the wider playing group.

Keeping everyone safe around alcohol

When serving alcohol, the club believes it has an important role to play in ensuring the safety of its members. Drinking culture can pose a challenge to sporting clubs and it is important to get the balance right.

“We discourage drinking and driving, and make sure people have access to transport. We always serve food after a game, bringing in pizzas or rolls and do this midway through functions too. Water is free and we have low alcohol options available at the bar.”

“It’s important for the younger kids to see positive behaviours. We want to set an example of what is acceptable and what is not in terms of behaviours and the club’s values.“

Good Sports resources have helped the club put in place the right policies and processes.

Josh said that club administration can be tough and time consuming.

“It’s good to access information from experts in the field rather than working on our own. It means we don’t have to do as much research. Good Sports has really helped us with alcohol management.”

The 2022 grants for Tasmanian Good Sports clubs, funded by the Tasmanian Government, are now open until July 30.