Essendon Royals Community Football Program Update

Essendon Royals is excited to be welcoming back over 400 community players back to pre-season training over the coming weeks.

With our Junior Boys National Premier Leagues teams preparing for their season opener on February 6, pre-season for the Royals Community Football Program will finally get back underway in the coming weeks.

The club’s well-established Community Football Program has a fantastic track record of catering for some of our youngest members, right up to our under-20 teams which provide a fun and healthy space for players of various ages and abilities to enjoy their football in a team-based environment.

All participants in the club’s Community Football Program will receive team-specific information from their Team Managers, however, the club takes this opportunity to share club-wide information for families and players alike.

The below information is for players and families within our Community Football Program.

Looking to join the club? Opportunities are extremely limited, but you can add yourself or your child/ren to the club’s Waiting List HERE.

We currently have limited vacancies in our Girls U12 and U13 teams, as well as our Boys U18 team.

Training Information

Training will commence the week starting February 7, 2022.

The Club is currently finalising the pre-season training schedule and locations but will be advising all team managers and coaches of their specific team training nights and locations in the coming days.

Thanks to a much-improved pre-season grounds allocation from the Moonee Valley City Council, the Royals are delighted to be able to have all players and teams back in training as soon as possible.

We remind all players and families that your pre-season training schedule may differ from your in-season training schedule once the Royals have received our Winter Allocation of grounds from Moonee Valley City Council.

We also ask all players to respect the rules set out around the use of Council grounds for soccer training, specifically that NO BOOTS BE WORN during pre-season training.

The ovals we train at are being used by summer sports and will be used by fellow winter clubs in the coming months so it is important our players play their part in ensuring we all do our bit to preserve grounds throughout the year.

We also ask all coaches and teams to respect the assigned training schedule and only train at your allocated grounds at your allocated times.

Winter Allocations come into play from April 1, meaning the training schedule you receive in the coming days will be for the months of February and March.

Registration

If you have been offered a spot with the Essendon Royals within the club’s Community Football Program and have yet to pay a deposit, please do so immediately.

All deposits can be paid HERE.

Balance of fees must be paid via the PlayFootball Portal. The club has not yet opened this portal as we are completing registrations for our Junior Boys National Premier Leagues teams. The portal will be open to Community Football Program participants from February 7. All Community Football Program players will be reminded of this once the portal is open.

Apparel

The club expects to be able to hand out apparel from the week starting Monday, March 21.

Apparel will only be handed out to players/families who have paid their deposit.

The club held four separate nights for apparel sizing in 2021. We thank the vast majority of players who attended apparel fitting.

Those who did not will be contacted by your Team Manager to provide an estimated size for apparel.

If you have yet to pay your deposit, you will be able to provide sizing whilst completing the payment.

Season Dates

The vast majority of Community Football Program teams will have their season commence on April 24, with the season concluding in September.

Contacts

Any questions about any of the above should be directed as follows…

Football-related enquiries: mcurcija@essendonroyals.com.au / hof@essendonroyals.com.au

Apparel and General Enquiries: clubadmin@essendonroyals.com.au

Registration and Payments: registrar.royals@gmail.com