President of the Endeavour Sporting Club Charles Geriesi said his players urgently need training lights if they are to stay afloat.
By Rebecca Fraser
AN ENDEAVOUR Hills soccer club faces an uncertain future because players have been left in the dark.
A club official said senior players from the Endeavour Sporting Club were leaving for rival teams because they had no training lights and were being forced to practise in the dark.
Charles Geriesi has been club president for the past decade and said he hated to think that the club would fold due to their poor facilities.
The passionate soccer player has called on Casey Council to provide James Cook Reserve in Endeavour Hills with training lights so they can continue to compete.
Mr Geriesi said six players had recently resigned from the club because they could not train properly and he feared that more would soon follow suit.
He said he was also concerned that a player would be injured when trying to practise in the dark.
The club trains three times a week from 7pm but Mr Geriesi said by 8pm, players struggled to even see the ball.
Mr Geriesi said in an act of desperation, the club had erected their own training lights last year at a cost of $5000.
However, council recently ruled that the lights did not comply with its regulations and ordered them to be removed.
“I agreed that the lights should be removed. We only put them up in desperation.
“We funded them out of our own pocket through chocolate drives and small barbecues at matches,” he said.
Mr Geriesi said the club had devoted much time and energy to securing many talented senior players from teams such at South Melbourne and Waverley and he would be devastated if all of his hard work was wasted.
“I am worried that if there are no lights, there will be no club and we will have to give council our keys back.
“I have promised (the players) that lights are on the way, but I cannot tell them when.
“That is what really worries me. The club cannot afford to buy the lights.”
Mr Geriesi said the loss of a few top players and the uncertainty surrounding the lights meant the club had to drop from the Premiership Division Bayside League to a division-two competition.
“I have put in 10 hard years to reach this point and to reach the level and division we are in.
“It has been hard to get players, find a ground and form the right team and compete well.
“I am very proud that we have reached this level,” he said.
The Endeavour Hills resident met with Casey deputy mayor and Four Oaks Ward councillor Rob Wilson to discuss his concerns last week.
Cr Wilson conveyed the club’s concerns at last Tuesday’s Casey Council meeting and moved that council provide the club with lighting.
As an item of urgent business, he moved that council supply and install training floodlights at James Cook Reserve, up to the value of $20,000, and that these be included in 2005/06 Capital Works Program, subject to Endeavour Sporting Club obtaining the appropriate permits and approvals.
“The whole soccer club could fold,” Cr Wilson said.
“The fact is this is urgent and imminent.”
