By Mikayla Van Loon
Since opening in 2020 The Sporting Globe Chirnside Park has been a major supporter of grassroots sport, providing thousands of dollars worth of monetary support.
Sponsoring clubs locally like Mooroolbark and Chirnside Park, as well as further afield like Silvan, Wandin and Healesville, the playing groups have this year received over $100,000.
Franchisees Eloise Wallace and Dave Sinclair each grew up around sport and have now found a love in providing for community sports clubs and their players.
“Dave and I have both grown up in the Yarra Valley so we’re local and we’ve been involved in sports all our lives and this is a really good chance for us to be able to give back to the
Community,” Eloise said.
“We are really proud and passionate about sponsoring local grassroots sports teams
and being engaged with our local communities.”
Over the three years, at least 30 clubs across football, cricket, basketball, soccer, netball, gridiron and rugby have been sponsored in some way.
“They’re sponsored with a combination of cash and vouchers. The vouchers are a good way to engage the clubs and players,” Eloise said.
“The clubs use the vouchers as they wish, from players’ performance awards to prizes for club fundraising raffles.
“Every year we have ticked over the $100,000 mark in sponsorship, so we’re well over $300,000 to-date.”
For Chirnside Park Cricket Club president Michael McDonnell having a venue so accommodating of the club’s functions has made a huge difference to camaraderie.
“We do team selections here sometimes through season, out of season and even just regular weekend sessions to get the boys or even the girls in the women’s team together,” he said.
“Even the parents of the junior teams come down just to hang out, catch up. It’s good for bonding rather than being in the club rooms.”
Mooroolbark Football Club has also been majorly supported by The Sporting Globe, now reciprocating the support by having the logo on the team jumpers.
“So them jumping on board, our partnership and relationship has really got bigger, which is great for any sporting club to have that backing from them and they want to be a part of our club as well,” Mooroolbark FC co-president Craig Pretty said.
But also being financially assisted, Craig said, has helped both the junior and senior clubs provide the essentials to play the game they love.
“Financially it helps us and it goes towards the players, it goes towards the juniors, it goes towards helping with equipment for the juniors and seniors,” he said.
“So really it’s giving us more money to be able to spend on those sorts of things as well.”
While some sponsorships have supplied new equipment, over at Chirnside Park Junior Football Club, president Marcus Robinson said it has helped establish new programs to better care for players.
“It also goes towards programs that we’re running. We’re running a new one this year around suicide prevention. So we’re going to get some third parties in,” he said.
“So it’s some vocational pieces around that and also some education around cyber bullying. That’s something the funds from The Sporting Globe have helped us to reach out to the community, not just the football club but for siblings and parents, the whole footprint.”
As a combined Chirnside Park Football Netball Club, Marcus said “we’re really pushing the boundaries because it’s a lot more than just football [or netball]” and the club has been working on providing programs for all ages.
“Football is a lot bigger than just kicking a ball around on Saturday or Sunday. So we really want to have that community ethos and get everyone involved and have a safe place for our junior players and our senior players.”
