19/05/2026
Nets on goals (potential loss and gain)
We contemplate having to play without nets again at Cambridge while having them for the first time in decades at Edgeworth.
An important read, your children need you.
Other than for our U5-U7 grounds, did you know that nets on our grounds are only a relatively recent thing?
Our U8-U12 players played on grounds without nets on the goals for a decade or more. We are sure you can understand how hard this can be for the players, let alone our poor game leaders trying to work out whether a goal has been scored or not, especially during night games.
At ERJSA, most of our clubs are fully run by volunteer parents and the workload of the region is shared between clubs. Often by people already coaching teams, running clubs or volunteering at the region level; or doing all these things while working in full-time jobs of their own that have nothing to do with sport.
To give just some insight, the Bellerive club has taken on the full responsibility of arranging set up and take-down of Geilston Bay now that Montagu Bay as a location has come online. The Montagu Bay Junior Soccer Club club who used to share the Geilston Bay responsibility, have taken ownership of setting up and taking down Montagu Bay, and it wasn’t until midway through 2023 that nets appeared on our U11-U12 grounds, with all thanks to the Cambridge soccer club who arranged volunteers to set them up on a Friday night and take them down on a Saturday afternoon.
Cambridge as a location, however, may be about to play again without nets as the club has indicated that despite requests, it has had no volunteers step forward to do this in 2026. Can you help? If so, please immediately contact the club or privately message the region.
There is some good news though, after sourcing and testing some nets during the week, nets are going to appear for our U8-U9 players at Edgeworth thanks to the wonderful Emily and Phil at the Richmond United Junior Soccer Club who have agreed to do set up and take down. There will only be one ground with nets this weekend (23rd of May), but assuming no shipping delays, nets will appear on all other grounds from round 4 onwards.
Emily and Phil will also store the nets and bring them each weekend as we have no storage options at Edgeworth. No, we are not allowed to store anything there if you feel inclined to ask about the change rooms. Emily is also a committee member at ERJSA as Richmond’s representative. They are wonderful, but busy people. Emily and Phil will do all this while travelling up from Sorell each weekend. Their own team plays at Wentworth Park, so yes, they are setting up a ground at which they don’t even play. We cannot be more thankful and grateful that they have taken this on.
But it is important to understand, nets on Edgeworth might only be a short-lived thing.
Why? This is a big job. 5 grounds, 10 nets need to be set up. So our request to you as parents and coaches, if you have a 9:00am game at Edgeworth, turn up early and pitch in. If you have the last game of the day (2:20pm start time), stay and help take them down. Carefully and properly. While Emily and Phil can do this in 2026, we may need others to step forward in 2027.
It is also possible that nets will not be set up in the event Emily and Phil are not able to get to the ground due to something outside of their control. So if this does happen, simply play on, without nets, as we do now.
Nets are never guaranteed, without volunteers to set up or coordinate, playing without nets is the only option. Each year we revisit the coordination of nets at Wentworth Park, and we have yet to find a club with volunteers that can assist. We have the nets, just not the people or the storage.
Too few already do too much. Every club needs more help. It’s your choice as parents whether low-cost accessible participation environments like this continue to exist, and if so, what those environments look like.
We hope this post helps to provide some greater awareness but there are always alternatives, as without volunteers it might be as simple as the above, where we go back to playing without nets on goals, to something worse, such as a club failing, or even the entire region if clubs don’t have people to put forward for positions. In example of this, in recent years, an ERJSA club, the Meehan Rangers (previously known as Emmanuel) failed as it was unable to attract volunteers willing to run the club. In this example we also lost a ground to play at.
Who ultimately loses?
Our kids, so let’s step forward to make sure these types of things don’t happen.
How can you pitch in? Contact your club and volunteer. Through your club, you can then be put forward to help with region level needs. Many hands make light work.
It is also important to advise more broadly that after 10 years as a coach, 9 as a club president, and 8 as president of the region, this will be my last year. Roles are cyclical in nature, and they should be cycled as change is a good thing, it brings fresh ideas and new skills to the table.
Over my time, we have seen substantial growth, improved organisation, better playing surfaces (thank you to the council), the creation of all girls leagues, better equipment, and some storage now owned by the region at Geilston Bay. ERJSA is in a strong financial position with excellent relationships with our partners.
While sports in general focus more and more on making money and the top 1% at the expense of everyone else, our philosophy has helped create a better environment where kids want to play and continue playing.
It is never possible to create the ‘perfect’ environment where problems don’t exist, but we have made excellent progress, and it would be great to see our momentum and philosophy of low-cost participation-based sport continue well into the future.
Our success is a credit to all of the people who have volunteered their time to make this happen, you have my respect and gratitude. It is our collective efforts that have made this happen.
This week just happens to be National Volunteer Week. Your kids need you, so get involved.
Matt Combey
President ERJSA
