On behalf of the Ashburton Committee of Management, I welcome everyone to Season 2022.
We are really looking forward to a full year of football.
Our committee and staff have been busy behind the scenes getting our club ready to provide a great football experience for all our members on and off the pitch.
Our senior men’s, women’s and Junior Boys NPL programs started pre Christmas and we are now focussed on getting our Kick Off, Miniroos, Academy and junior programs started – watch out for updates on start times and registrations over the coming weeks.
We are also really excited to announce that our new website is now live!
The website is the front window to our club and the main member interface with lots of information and links. I encourage you to try it out and would welcome any feedback, as we will continue to refine the site in coming weeks.
None of this would have been possible without our new sponsor KBBDigital, who I want to thank for their support, expertise and guidance.
I also want to confirm that UltraFootball are our new club uniform and equipment supplier. They will be helping us kit our players and supporters this year with a range of playing uniform and club merchandise.
We are really pleased to welcome these new Ashy supporters, who join the other great sponsors for our club.
There’s plenty more happening around the club so keep an eye out for more Ashy announcements over the coming weeks.
For now, take care and stay safe.
Ray
Registrations now open for 2022!
Registrations are now open for all teams, from U7 through to Seniors and Masters.
If you want to play this year, then visit our Become a Member page here or sign up through PlayFootball for the relevant age groups
Training will commence for all teams from the week commencing 7 February. Details will be added to TeamApp and also found on our Club website.
Kick Off: 4 – 7 year olds
Kick Off is ideal for youngsters wanting to start playing football soccer or for those wanting to continue in the Kickoff program from last year and developing their skills.
Term 1 will be held at Camberwell High School on Prospect Hill Road, Canterbury. The program starts on Saturday 12 February at 9am. The cost is $80 and it will run until 2 April.
Please note that we don’t have access to all of our grounds in Summer. Kickoff will return to one of our Ashburton grounds in Term 2/3 for the winter season.
Performance teams in U10-13
For players in U10 to U13 teams who would like to play in one of our performance teams in 2022, trials and assessments will be held during preseason training in February. For more information on the various age groups, please visit Become a Member page
To register your interest for these trials please complete this EoI form
Performance teams train 3 nights per week (Monday, Tuesday & Thursday) with JBNPL coaches and play in competitions starting from 23/24 April.
JNPL season kick off
Everything is set for the kick off of the JNLP season on 7 February.
This year we have 65 players who will play in our four NPL teams in U14, U15, U16 and U18.
The season starts with 11 qualification rounds. This qualification stage is organised into four regionalised groups of 12 clubs and Ashy is part of the East Victoria group.
Our first four games in February are against Nunawading City, Goulburn Valley Suns, Box Hill United and Ringwood City.
JNPL Head of Coaching, Marcelo Koslowsky says the boys have worked hard during the pre-season to prepare for the upcoming fixtures.
“In our analysis all our JNPL teams are improving and we are confident that they will be highly competitive this year,” Mars said.
“Our last friendly ‘gala’ games were against Gippsland FC, which is part of the NPL South Victoria group. The results were really encouraging with our U15’s winning 4-2, U16’s drawing 1-1 and our U18’s going down in a 1-4 loss. Our U14 team will play against Eastern Lions this weekend.”
We wish all our JNPL players, coaches and managers (and parents!) the very best for the season ahead. Go Ashy!
(Pictured below is our JNPL U15s from 2021)
Futsal anyone?
Juniors
We are looking at running a junior futsal competition in Term 1 (February-March) at the Ashburton Pool and Recreation Centre on Sunday mornings.
Depending on interest, we will run leagues from U7-U16. The competition would be open to all Ashburton players and their friends. So for example, you might want to enter a team with friends from school.
If you would like to play, could you please indicate your interest by completing this Junior Futsal EoI and return it asap, or go to the Futsal menu on our new website.
We will be back in contact with more information about the competition and the costs if there is enough interest.
Seniors
We are looking for teams to join our Men’s Division 2 Wednesday night competition, starting in February.
Division 2 is more of a social competition and it ideal for teams starting out or wanting to ease into playing futsal.
All games are at the Ashburton Pool and Recreation Centre and have qualified futsal referees. It’s great for fitness, good fun and if you win the league, you can try your luck in Division 1.
This month we were delighted to confirm the appointment of Alex Simos as our Reserves Coach and Trent Hansen as Assistant Coach for 2022.
Alex and Trent are former senior Ashy players and loyal club servants. Importantly, they have extensive football experience to draw on to help develop our younger players into senior team members.
In additional senior news, Yiotis Harper has joined the senior team as an Assistant Coach. Yiotis is another former player who enjoyed a long distinguished career playing for Ashy.
Yiotis, Alex and Trent now join Senior Coach Zoran Tudor and Assistant Coach Stuart Charman as members of our Senior Coaching Panel. Good luck to our Seniors for the year ahead!