Pay for play

By Paul Dunlop
PAKENHAM Football Club is so short of under18 players that desperate officials may take the drastic step of offering to pay them.
Just weeks before the first bounce of the new season, the Lions and a number of other clubs are struggling to field junior teams.
Pakenham’s plight is so dire that it might have to forfeit under18 games if players are not found.
Similar problems exist at other CaseyCardinia clubs, which are looking to borrow players from their opposition to keep teams afloat.
Pakenham president Graham Burridge said the under18 player shortage was possibly the worst in the club’s 96year history.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said.
“It’s been building up to this for a while and now we’ve hit rock bottom.
“We’ve notified the league that we’re in strife but we’re still hoping against hope we can turn it around.
“The committee has discussed the possibility of offering some sort of financial incentive.
“We’d obviously much rather it didn’t get to that but if that’s what we’ve got to do, we’ll certainly look at it.”
The club already offers young recruits free shorts and socks but believes a season without under18s would hurt the club financially.
“The players and their parents or grandparents who come and watch spend money at the gate and at the canteen. That’s money the club will lose if they are not around.”
Mr Burridge said most of last year’s under18s team had either moved to Ellinbank league clubs such as Nar Nar Goon or Cora Lynn or simply decided to have a break from football.
Despite flourishing numbers in other junior teams, the drought of young players at the fringe of senior football was a real worry for the club, he said.
“Our success over the years has been built on local product. You look at Pakenham’s premiership sides on the walls in the clubroom, only two or three players in any team weren’t locally raised kids.
“We haven’t had to go out and buy heaps of players like other clubs, we’ve always brought our kids through and it’s always been our recipe for success.”
Pakenham senior coach Michael Holland said the under18s crisis was a big concern for the entire playing group.
“Not having kids coming through to the seniors is terrible for a coach,” he said.
“It puts the club back two or three years, not just one. That’s how long it takes for the next group of kids to come through and develop.
“As a local player and Pakenham clubman all my life it’s very disappointing.
“Beaconsfield and Narre Warren can get enough for two sides and a club like Pakenham should be able to do the same without any problems.”