Gina McCartin, Ben Taylor, Sally McLean and Michael Taylor.
IT wouldn’t be a bad idea to bring a blanket to the footy this weekend.
But it would be even better to bring several, to make life more bearable for the city’s homeless.
The Ballarat Football League has declared this weekend’s senior and junior round of matches to be its inaugural Bring a Blanket Round.
Clubs, players and supporters have been asked to bring blankets to their matches, which will be donated to the On Track Foundation.
More than 100,000 Australians are homeless each night. Half of those are aged under 24 years, according to the Red Onion Ballarat Football League.
The home clubs – including Lake Wendouree which will play a home fixture against Melton at Eastern Oval due to the condition of its own home ground – will have a collection point at their games, with a view to collecting 500 blankets across the fixtures over the weekend.
This week Lake Wendouree netballer Gina McCartin, senior footballer Ben Taylor, netball director Sally McLean and club secretary Michael Taylor got into the spirit of the round at their “adopted” home of Eastern Oval.