AFTER 15 years in the wilderness, a group of amazing parents in Scotts Head have re-established the Sharks Soccer Club.
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This has been an exciting venture for the town, and many residents are looking forward to going to Buz Brazel Oval on Saturday morning to once again barrack for a local team.
The idea of re-forming the club after it folded was started by president Gavin Jones and coaching coordinator Ben Evans, who realised that many Scotts Head kids travelled to Nambucca or Macksville football clubs to get a game.
From there, a group of parents came onboard and broached the subject of playing local football at Ritchie Donovan's oval - and he in turn backed the venture.
After six months of planning, fundraising and organising, the Sharks will return to the pitch on Saturday, with four junior teams in action - three of them at home, and one away to Bellingen.
Jerseys have been organised, line marking was completed over the weekend and the kids are pumped to be playing on their local Scotts Head field in front of family and friends.
The Sharks will field teams in the Under 6-7s, Under 9s, Under 10s and U12s divisions.
The club had originally hoped to get two teams together, but that blew out delightfully when they had 55 players on their books.
Meanwhile, with more than 4600 players registered for the 2019 North Coast Football season, expenses needed to run the various competitions have been reduced thanks to the signing of a three year major sponsorship agreement with the C.ex Group.
An ongoing supporter of numerous sporting codes, the C.ex Group's community relations manager, Sarah Davie, said continuing their partnership with North Coast Football was a natural fit.
"We want to help reduce the financial pressure on families and make it easier for people to participate in sport within our local community, so partnering with North Coast Football for a further three years helps to achieve this and adds to our already quite broad community support portfolio," Sarah said.
"The sport is experiencing tremendous growth, and we see this as a great opportunity to continue to invest in and grow football in our region."
North Coast Football (NCF) general manager Paul Ninness said the financial support from the C.ex Group will make a world of difference.
"It just makes it easier for us to provide greater support of various NCF programs," Paul said.
