Tate Papworth
While the state suffers a football drought, Eynesbury is set to end one that extends well beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
The town currently has three junior sides – Auskick, under 11s and under 13s – but no pathway to a seniors team… until now.
After much lobbying Eynesbury will field its first senior side in the AFL Goldfields Club 18s competition in 2021.
Aron Lombardi has led the push to get a senior team up and running and said the timing was perfect.
“There hasn’t been many facilities or much in the way of local sport because there’s been no oval here,” Mr Lombardi said.
“But we’ve got a new oval be opened next year and three junior teams, so it seemed like the right time to promote senior footy going forward.”
Mr Lombardi said that the town’s demographic perfectly suits the introduction of a senior side.
“The population in town is largely young families, so people in the 30-40 age bracket,” he said.
“The nature of the Club 18s means we’ll only train once a week, so it gives a bit of flexibility to guys with families too.”
He said he hoped it would be the start of bigger things.
“It’ll be exciting for people to be able to come down and watch senior footy on Friday nights,” he said.
“We want to focus on really getting this right in the Club 18s with the hopes of it possibly being a stepping stone to bigger things going forward.”
