The Eastern Football League is proud to participate in the Transport Accident Commission’s (TAC’s) inaugural Towards Zero Round this weekend.
For the first time in the TAC’s 28-year-long partnership with AFL Victoria, the TAC is coordinating a state-wide, fixtured round for all grassroots and community football and netball clubs from August 2-4.
Through the TAC’s partnership with AFL Victoria, the Towards Zero Round will enable the TAC to share the message of road safety with more than 400,000 Victorians who are involved in local sporting clubs across the state.
The round will see each EFL senior men’s and Deakin Uni Eastern Region Women’s captain wearing the number ‘0’ on their backs instead of their usual jumper number. The senior field umpires at the Vermont v. Rowville clash will also be sporting the number ‘0’.
TAC Acting Chief Executive Officer Bruce Crossett said the Towards Zero round aims to highlight the real value of reaching zero deaths on our roads and why it’s something all Victorians should be working towards.
“Grassroots football and netball clubs are the life blood of their communities and I’m sure you would be hard pressed to find someone involved who hasn’t been affected by road trauma,” Mr Crossett said.
“We believe that zero is the only acceptable number of deaths on our roads,but we need everyone to play their part,” he said.
“This round is putting road safety at the fore and we’re asking everyone to prioritise safety to make sure every journey is a safe one.”
Recent research from La Trobe University and AFL Victoria has highlighted the true value football clubs have for their wider communities, revealing that for every player, football clubs reach 10 people in their community.
“The thousands of football and netball players right across the state cover hundreds of kilometres travelling to games throughout the season”, Mr Crossett said.
“Through our partnership with AFL Victoria,and the launch of the Towards Zero Round, we’re able to have a direct conversation with those Victorians about the role they play in making our roads safe rand working towards zero deaths and serious injuries on our roads,” he said.
Alarmingly,165 Victorians have already lost their lives on the roads this year, up from 104 at the same time as last year (56-per-cent increase).
Tragically, 95 of these deaths have occurred on regional roads, compared with 52 the same time in 2018.The Towards Zero Round is a new approach by the TAC and AFL Victoria to engage the community and increase awareness about critical road safety issues. As part of this initiative, the TAC have also invested $300,000 in a Community Grants Program, where local clubs will have the opportunity to apply for grants of up to $10,000.
Community members can help spread the message that ‘Zero is Possible’ by tagging TAC in your Towards Zero Round photos on social media by searching Transport Accident Commission (TAC) on Facebook and @tacvictoria on Instagram.
To find out more about the Towards Zero Round and to see if your club is eligible to apply for the Community Grants Program, visit aflvic.com.au.