Objective is a proud sponsor of Eastlake Football Club

The football club is making a difference to the community, teaching players vital life skills and driving equality right across the sporting landscape

Eastlake Football Club has been making a difference in the inner south Canberra community since 1926. Fundamentally, the Eastlake Football Club provides the opportunity for any male or female participant who wants to participate in the game of AFL at a community level across the juniors’ and seniors’ programs.

Eastlake Football club engages junior participants through the local schools in the Canberra area with information about the sport and undertake school clinics through an Auskick program, which is five to seven year-olds right through to Year 10. The club even runs programs through the school holidays for participants to engage in whilst they’re off school as well.

Shaun Young, General Manager Football, Eastlake Football Club explains the importance of sport in the community: “Sport might play a very integral role in the individual’s development. You know, they learn some life skills whilst they’re at the football club. They learn to communicate effectively. They learn to manage their time. They learn to plan as well. They learn structures. They learn a wide range of personal skills that hopefully will take them into their adult years of life and hopefully be better positioned for it."

The football club focuses heavily on the quality of programs, as well as being seen as a football club that provides equality right across the sporting landscape. The Eastlake Football Club has been doing a lot to support women in sport. Their juniors’ space consists of 18 teams and 50% of those participants are female, including two teams in the senior women’s space.

Through their partnership with Objective, Eastlake Football Club has brand matched their footballs with the Objective logo to use on game day and in training with the youth girls’ space. The partnership has also introduced the ‘Objective Youth Girls’ Player of the Week.’ This recognition doesn’t necessarily go to the player who plays the best game, but the player who demonstrates good team ethics and morals on and off the field.

But that’s not all! The club does fantastic work for the wider community as well. Recently, the senior participants program held an art auction where every player had to produce their own piece of art. Through that event, the players raised $4,500 for Sockit2MND, to help fund vital Motor Neurone Disease research. In July, Eastlake Football will hold a pride round, where all senior participants will wear specifically designed pride jumpers.

“We have a strong view within the football club that, yes, football is important to us, but it’s not the most important thing. It’s the individual and making sure that the individual is developing as a person along the way and that they really enjoy their experience in the sport of AFL via the Eastlake Football Club,” said Shaun Young.

We have a strong view within the football club that, yes, football is important to us, but it’s not the most important thing. It’s the individual and making sure that the individual is developing as a person along the way and that they really enjoy their experience in the sport of AFL via the Eastlake Football Club.

Shaun Young

General Manager Football, Eastlake Football Club