WHEN grappling with something hard to explain, football clubs have a special way of rallying the wider community to make a positive impact.
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We can see and feel this as clubs emerge from their own pains of pandemic stop-starts to make sure they do not forget what matters.
Learmonth will host Dunnstown in the third Lachie's Legacy match in the Central Highlands Football League this weekend. The match itself is a tribute to Towners' footballer Lachie Poulter, who died after collapsing on the sidelines at the end of a match in late July, 2018.
Poulter's legacy is already so much bigger.
LISTEN BELOW: The Legacy of Lachie Poulter | OFF THE RECORD with Tim O'Connor, 2020
Redan Football Netball Club donated 80 jumpers and 15 pairs of football boots last week to Lachie's Legacy, a charity to ensure all children have access to skills, uniforms and equipment to enjoy the game Poulter loved so much.
North Ballarat, Ballan and Bungaree have also made similar gestures, along with Poulter's beloved Towners.
Uniforms, such as jumpers, are far from cheap and clubs could easily opt to keep them to help their own ranks in training amid rising financial pressures on clubs. Yet they choose to give.
Towners' president Peter Bowman said there was a special pride when you saw photos of Indigenous children in central Australia running about in Dunnstown football jumpers. Or, when suddenly children who were used to playing barefoot had good boots that juniors in this region had simply outgrown.
Lachie's Legacy fixture might feel a little different for the Towners this year - it will be the first time Learmonth will have hosting duties. Bowman said the work of Lachie's Legacy is a constant for the Poulter family but the match was a chance for both clubs to pause.
The Towners will again present a clubman-like award to someone who embraces the spirit of Poulter, just a hard-working love for the club and for the game. This is particularly poignant in a season still riddled by pandemic uncertainty.
A fortnight ago Ballarat Swans raised more than $8000 to support families impacted by meningococcal disease via 4EK, the foundation raising awareness of the deadly bacterial infection in memory of Ballarat nursing and paramedicine student Emma-Kate McGrath.
East Point rallied last week called on Carlton great Anthony Koutafides to help raise more than $3000 for Ballarat Regional Integrated Cancer Centre's Wellness Centre, an holistic support for all cancer patients in the region. Koutafides spoke about his father's experience with cancer, BRICC patient Jodie Hodge tossed the coin and importantly.
This was the Kangaroos' first Wellness Round in three years and served as an important reminder that while cancer can largely seem a far-reaching cruel and complex problem, we can make a difference to lives in our backyard.
This is what football-netball clubs can do so well.
We have missed those connections, not just within our own clubs but in the wider Ballarat sporting community.
Lachie's Legacy is a great, ongoing reminder of what is important in our game.
Read more From the Press Box with Melanie Whelan
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