Eschol Park FC

At Eschol Park FC, the Registration Package fee includes all costs, Football Federation Australia fees, Football New South Wales fees, Macarthur Football Association fees, Team Nomination fees, Match fees, Referee fees, Club fees. After you have registered, you don’t have to pay again that season.

You are still responsible for your own shorts, socks, shin pads, boots and any other personal equipment in the Winter competition and in addition to that, your own shirt in the Summer competition.

We don’t believe our fees are high if you consider everything that is covered, we actually believe they are lower than most if not all other clubs in the Macarthur Association.

We have always done this in the Summer competition, but not in the Winter. The decision has not been taken hastily, the committees over several years have considered this but we felt the time was right in 2019, and we continue this in 2020 and beyond.

Factors that we considered when making this decision:

• Our society is moving more away from cash and more to card. We no longer carry cash on us, parents seemed to get embarrassed about not having cash at the games and would stay away.
• Team Managers were complaining that they had to put their hand into their own pocket to make up the shortfall.
• Teams were falling short on their Match and Referee fees at the end of the season and then not paying the difference.

None of this was working and placed financial strain on the club to provide trophies to all as there was no visibility at club level of who was defaulting. To ease the burden on families, a Payment Plan facility was introduced at the same time.

Our fees are calculated based on teams consisting of a run on side and 3 reserves, except for the M-League teams which are based on 16 players. We base the average number of games that will be played across all team in the season at 18, some will play more and others less. We also work on an average of 1 Referee and 1 Assistant Referee (where applicable) per home game. With those numbers and the fee structure provided by the FFA, FNSW, MFA and the MDFRA, we calculate a cost per player. We also take into consideration our operating cost, as for many years EPFC has not been able to break even with the Registration fees collected for the Winter season.

EPFC is using the Canteen takings to purchase minor investments that benefit the whole club. In the past, we purchased mowers, BBQ upgrades, Building extensions, Goals etc.

EPFC is using the Sponsorship money raised to buy/ upgrade equipment to the benefit of all members.

Our Profits are currently being driven by our Summer competition, and the club is having plans to upgrade the club house with a 2nd level extension to create more space for our growing club.

We do our best to support our members and their families with registration discounts. The Play Football solution cannot handle the complex nature of our discounts, so we use our own system, "Majestri".

On the reverse side of that, the Play Football solution will not accept an upload from clubs of their registrations. We, along with many other clubs across Australia continue to lobby the FFA to ease this stance, but until they do, we are stuck with a poor discount system or registering on two systems.

For the Winter competition, we calculate the Referee Fees based on 18 games and an average of 1 Referee and 1 Assistant Referee, so the club is already taking a risk. In addition to this, we track the number of Referees and Assistant Referees at every home game. At the end of the season, the committee will review the Referee attendance and if a team was adversely affected by the number of Referees, then a refund will be considered.

In the long history of our Summer competition, this has only happened twice, and we have taken steps to ensure that every game has a Referee in future, but on the off chance that it happens, a refund will be provided.

Most games in the Winter competition are rescheduled if they are washed out, so unless there are exceptional circumstances, no refunds will be considered.

Due to the short nature and no option to reschedule games in the Summer competition, refunds of the Game portion of the Registration Package fee will be provided for washed out games.

Refunds may be considered if there are a large number of 5 and 9 team competitions in a season, but the consideration would also look at (and be offset by) the number of teams that were adversely affected by low Referee numbers.

There are only three steps that must happen for this to be possible:

1. You must advise your current club of your desire to move and then request a deregistration with them and with Play Football.
2. Once your club accepts your deregistration request, the Macarthur Football Association must approve it.
3. Once that is done, you can register on Play Football to play at Eschol Park FC and also register and pay on our website under the appropriate Want to Play > (Winter/Summer) Competition page.

Note: it is a good idea to keep in touch with our Registrar through this process as they may be able to assist with your old club and with the Macarthur Football Association. You must also let the Registrar know if you used your Active Kids voucher at your old club.

There are only three steps that must happen for this to be possible:

1. You must advise us (Eschol Park FC) of your desire to move and then request a deregistration with us and with Play Football.
2. Once we accept your deregistration request, the Macarthur Football Association must approve it.
3. Once that is done, you can register on Play Football to play at your new Club and follow any other registration procedures that they mandate.

Note: it is a good idea to keep in touch with the Registrar of your new club through this process as they may be able to assist with the Macarthur Football Association. You must also let their Registrar know if you used your Active Kids voucher at Eschol Park FC.

At this stage Credit Card Payment Plans are not available. The cost to the club is too high and it does not make economic sense to subscribe to this service. We will continue to monitor the cost of this service and if it becomes economically viable, we will introduce it in the future.

Your child’s team is determined by the age they turn in the season. E.g. if your child turns 8 at any time during the calendar year, they will be in Under 8’s. There are allowances for skilled players to ‘play up’ a year and that can be discussed with the club officials.

Ages are grouped as follows:

• Pups (Under 5 to Under 11)
• Junior Wolves (Under 12 to Under 18)
• Senior Wolves (All Ages)
• Colts (M-League U21)
• Wolves (M-League)

This varies year by year, but generally:

• the Winter season starts towards the end of March to the beginning of April and depending on the age groups, finals are played in late August or early September. Pups don't play finals.
• MFA is aiming for the following competition set up: 8 teams = 21 matches. 10 teams = 18 matches. 6 teams = 20 matches. 
  
• the Summer season starts in late September and runs for 12 weeks.

Yes. Our club runs a 10-week Summer Competition from October to mid-December.

All players are required to wear soccer boots, club socks, shin pads, club shorts and club shirt. Boots and shin pads can be purchased at most good sports stores. Club socks and shorts can be purchased at the club. We strongly recommend that each player is bringing a soccer ball to training and for warm up for game days. The correct size for U5 to U9 is a size 3 ball, for U10 to U13 size 4 ball and U14 and up uses size 5 balls. The club shirt will be given to the Team Manager and handed out each week before the game.

For the Summer competition, you will need to provide your own shirt as well

No, it’s not essential but we highly recommend attending these if the time suits. They are a fantastic way for your child to learn some extra skills and progress faster.

We grade the Junior Wolves (Under 12 to Under 18) that play in Division 1. 

Other teams will only be graded if there are enough players to form more than one team per age group.

Unfortunately, we do not know the numbers until the final clubhouse information day, so all players are required to attend. An announcement will be made at that time if Grading for the Age Group is on or not.

Small sided games may be played if there are only numbers for a single team to decide which division the team should be nominated in.

This will be announced at the Team Allocations Days:

• Pups (Under 5 to Under 11) usually happens the Saturday after the last Clubhouse Information day,
• Junior Wolves (Under 12 to Under 17) is the following Sunday, and
• Senior Wolves (Under 18 and older) is the following Saturday.

The dates and times will appear in the calendar on the home page.

At the commencement of each allocation session, the President/ Committee Member will explain some key information and then either ask teams to form (Pups and Seniors) or announce the Junior Wolves teams.

We prefer that teams in the Pups group (Under 5 to Under 11) form themselves. Coaches are encouraged to form their teams before Team Allocations, however this is not always practical so at Team Allocation, the committee will assist each player finding a team. Team Allocation for Pups is normally the Saturday after the last clubhouse information day.

Junior Wolves are formed as a result of Grading or if there are only enough to form a single team, based on numbers. The teams are announced at Team Allocation day, generally the Saturday after Pups.

Senior Wolves form themselves on Team Allocation days, the committee will assist individual players finding a team. This is usually the Sunday following Junior Wolves.

Once the teams are identified, a committee member will work with each team to identify a Coach and Team Manager and explain the expectation of these roles. Once this is done, the team then decides the most suitable day and time for training. The Coach picks up the team match kit which contains training equipment and the playing shirts. During this time, the Team Manager confirms everyones contact details for their records.

Once all that is done, the players/parents can purchase equipment/merchandise from the canteen.

Please check the website for Allocation Dates/Times.

Training can start as early as the first week after team allocations. Training is held on a day and time as agreed between the volunteer Coach and the Players/Parents.

On the website, click on ‘Fixtures/ Results’ menu and then either the Winter (year) or Summer (year) link to SportsTG. Once there, look for your team. We also recommend discussing the use of Team App with your Coach/Manager, it is a great tool to help you.

Fixture times are decided by the Macarthur Football Association and can change up until the day before play, so best to always double check.

Note: Fixtures are not normally released until late March.

Each club publishes their field allocation differently, your Coach or Team Manager will normally arrive before you and check where your game is. Keep in touch with them to find out the exact details. You can also ask a Ground Official at any ground, they will generally be wearing a yellow high visibility vest.

Under all circumstances, training and games will be on unless you are told they are off!

For Game Days: Each team will be notified by our Competition Secretary whenever games are cancelled due to wash outs or forfeits. If our fields are closed, then games at our ground are off.

For Training: If the fields are closed, there is to be no training. If the fields are open, speak to your coach.

Our website is always kept up to date with the information as soon as we are aware of it and the field status of our fields is shown on the home page, in the top right.

If our fields are closed, there is to be no training.