Kevin Holohan, Chairperson of the AUSC, has written an open letter to all members of the AUSC in regards to responsibilities and working for a better future for the club.

AUSC Members,

Responsibility for many people within our club seems to be something only the “committed” display.

We are all volunteers as members of the AUSC Blacks, we should ALL have paid our fees by now, which covers paying our expenses and purchasing equipment.

Unfortunately with the introduction of Voluntary Student Unionism our fees have increased, but also in the last 5 years the club is owed over $2,000.00 not including this year’s long list of money outstanding by “members” who apparently do not see it important enough to be responsible. I hear all types of excuses yet I ask how many sacrifices are you making to make it happen?  The club is not here to provide for you and is not rich, we are an amateur club and unfortunately because of our set up will always be so. Many of our members are students and yet most have paid their fees, the majority who have not paid are members who are working full-time!

We all suffer because of this, and despite the efforts of a few to address this, there is still a large number of players who see it as alright to take there time to pay their fees thus leaving the club in the position again of having to chase funds.

The gear/equipment at the club has not been obtained because of the hard-work of many – rather but a few. This gear was bought through the hard-work with fundraising efforts (the last 4 years by the Div2-4 teams/collegiate) of previous and current players. The cage, tins, lockers, marquee, uniforms, equipment (bibs, agility poles, speed ladder, flex-goal) etc are thanks to the efforts of these players and there has been little thanks for this especially from the Division 1 teams who have benefited from the work of players who may not get to play at this level.

This is not to have a go at the Division 1 players, who this year includes many young players who have progressed up from last years division 2 and 3 teams, which is the goal of the club. This is just to say that we can all be doing something, and not just leaving it to the same people to sort everything out. What is required for this club to move forward is the time, skill and expertise of these players helping with managing, coaching, administration and be in a working group to help the club.

Too many players treat this equipment with no respect and take no responsibility for looking after it, most make no effort to assist putting gear away, how hard is it to put a ball in a bag, take a net down and put it in its bag, to place bibs or playing tops in their bags!!! Instead things are left lying around for Coaches to pick up, thrown in the general area of bags etc. This year already the Division 1 teams have lost/misplaced/had stolen at least 10 Mitre balls, and the Div3 reserves team have lost/misplaced/had stolen 5 playing tops. These have had to be replaced costing $900 to the club!!!! This lack of care and taking responsibility demonstrates why I believe we are not even close to being what we should be as a club.

There are numerous people within our club who have worked hard and given of their expertise and time, some who still do so and others who out of frustration have withdrawn this much appreciated effort. We need to build a culture that cares and takes responsibility for what we have, not taking it for granted and not because we must but because we WANT TOO.

We should all be trying to build the club up not rip it down with our lack of responsibility.

We do not pay players, because we cannot, this is simple, we should not as a club be paying for players fines (this is simply taking responsibility for your actions – particularly in the case of red cards which hurts the team!) but we have put in place ways to reward players who help the club by bringing in sponsorship by using that money to help pay their fees.

This year Rasoul Ahmady, Bilal Farooqi, Greg Clarke, Alex Reade, Andrew Carman, Philipe Safi, and myself have organised to bring in sponsorship to the club. I thank all these people as well as the many parents of the Women’s and Junior teams who have also sponsored the club.

Ultimately, there is much more to be done! We all need to make the decision that we are here at the club to make it better, to help it to grow, to build and strengthen it – this requires people who are willing to take responsibility, to be committed and not people with a “take it for granted” attitude.

We all need to ask not what the club can do for me but what can I do for the club!

Kevin Holohan
AUSC Chairperson