Lindfield Football Club have returned to Canberra for the Kanga Cup once again this year, bringing 16 of their teams to compete for gold!
Lindfield FC have quite a long history. Founded in 1957, they are one of the foundation clubs of the Northern Suburbs Football Association competition based in Sydney. With 2000 dedicated members of their club, it makes them one of the largest amateur football clubs in all of New South Wales.
The club aims to enhance the experience of football for all their participants, promoting team spirit, fair play, and loyalty to build a love and passion for football. These club values do not go unnoticed when their teams come to participate in the annual Kanga Cup tournament.
Emanuel Rosas, coach of the under 16’s Open Plate team for this year, revealed that the club’s involvement in the competition has now become a tradition. He believes that the event provides everyone with a lot of positive experiences.
“I’m not sure how it started, but now it has sort of become a club tradition that we come every year,” Rosas said. “Last year was my first year with these boys coming down and we just had such a good time. Everyone was super welcoming, from Canberra and from all other places.
“It is such a good opportunity for us to build as a team and to bond a little bit. For the boys especially, it’s good to get a bit of time away from Sydney. It was something that we just loved last year, and this year has been just as good.”
Lindfield FC thinks that the tournament provides their teams, as well as all other teams attending with a great opportunity to experience the different styles of football away from home. For this NSW based club, they love the chance they get to escape their Sydney ‘bubble’ to see what else is out there! Rosas shared what he feels the overall highlight of the competition has been so far:
“Just being able to play football, playing so many games against teams from so many different places that all play and carry themselves in a different way depending on where they are from,” he said. “It’s such a good opportunity to get away from our little bubble that we’re in in Sydney, it’s really good.”
With every opportunity comes a challenge! This is something that the under 16’s Open Plate coach acknowledged. However, despite the challenges that arise, there are always positive outcomes which also continue to shine bright.
“From a full perspective, it’s a new challenge for them to come up against teams that play in such a different way and have different approaches to their football,” Rosas commented. “But also, just to be able to spend all day together as a team and being able to bond is so different to the one and a half hours of training that we do twice a week in Sydney with a game on the weekend. It’s a whole new opportunity for them to become closer mates.”
Of course, every competition also provides a chance to take home gold. While seeing some great results throughout the week is always a positive, the teams from Lindfield FC do not let a handful of losses cloud their overall Kanga Cup experience. Although his team may have had a tough start to the week, Rosas will continue to promote the enjoyment factor of football, which is just as important as anything else the tournament has to offer.
“The goal originally was to win, but we had a tough day on Monday,” he shared. ”So, from now on, it’s just about winning every game as it comes and leave injury free as well. Last year we had a couple of injuries that really stuffed us up in our season. But now, we will just continue to enjoy it.”
Words: Kate Reedy
