Credit where credit is due...

[pelbo]

Camped at Jounama Creek, Snowy mountains. Our nice quiet camp was suddenly invaded by a large football mob. We feared the worse and no more sleep for the weekend.

But the opposite happened. Here is my letter to the editor of the local newspaper, The Daily Advertiser. Plus the photos I sent the paper. I beleive in giving credit where credit is due:


Dear Sir

I would like to congratulate the members of the local Osborne Football club for the manner they conducted themselves at their training camp at Jounama Creek over this weekend.

My wife and I are Grey Nomads and have been travelling this country and camping in lovely quiet places like Jounama creek for the past 8 years. So we know what can happen when testosterone and alcohol mix with some young campers and the havoc they can cause.

So much to our horror, we were quickly hemmed in by a very large bunch of footballers and their entourage on Friday evening. There goes our quiet weekend we thought. We were so hemmed in we couldn’t even hitch up and move.

The first inkling that things may not be as bad as we thought, was when two senior members approached us and apologised for hemming us in and promised they would be a well behaved bunch and fairly quiet, as this was their first training session. This was a first for us – people apologising before the havoc!

Much to our delight, they were so quiet the first night, I thought maybe they had packed up and quietly slipped away. I checked outside our van, but they were still there! No yahooing or shouting or drunken laughter and yelling and I am sure they have the full compliment of testosterone!

These people have done your community proud. After all the bad publicity all football codes have experienced last season, if these gentlemen who get on with enjoying their sport and time together without annoying others are the future of this sporting nation, we have no problems.

What also impressed me was the friendly and gentlemanly treatment we received. Their maturity and sense of responsibility for their group was astounding. Many came up to us and said hoped they had not been too noisy! Too noisy! You wouldn’t know they were there!

Congratulations and well done to all concerned. I have included photos of the full camp with our caravan stuck right in the middle and another photo after they left. Not a scrap of rubbish was left behind and you wouldn’t know they had been here.

Paul and Marlies

[Dot]

Well done Paul, as you say Credit where credit is due. (Have you checked your fuel tanks?) I bet the club get a real buzz from your letter as well as the parents of the lads.

[T1 Terry]

Good one Paul..... Does this mean we have to take back those things I said about you It's great to see respect is still alive any well, full credit to the club members and their coaches etc

[generdawg]

Very encouraging to see manners are are alive and well in the country. Sad to say that may not be the general case in urban environment.

[Greynomad]

Manners... manners...
I remember them!
That's what my Nanna insisted I use when visiting her and Pop.
The words 'Please' and 'thank-you' come vaguely to mind...


Seriously, it's good to see some footy clubs instil in their members some sense of social responsibility and consideration.

All we seem to hear of in The Media are the failures of the young male ditzes with more money than either the sense or maturity normal in males of their age. And alcohol seems to be the major factor - along with an exaggerated sense of their own importance - in the incidents reported.
viz. The young bloke currently facing up to 10 years in the can for a one-punch attack on some other young man who made some disparaging remark in a nightclub toilet. One can imagine the topic and the remark... even if The Media have avoided specifics in this case.

[Kelvin12]

What a great report about footballers for a change. This is one story that should have gone to the national carriers to show other lame brained clubs and managers how to behave. Maybe consider sending it onto the footy clubs sure do need a wake up call.

Dirk