“Many clubs have experienced first-hand the damage that road trauma can bring to a community,” AFL Goulburn Murray Club Development Lead Sam Monaghan said ahead of the TAC Road Safety Round.
“There had been significant road trauma in our area lately and the lives lost on the roads across the state were 10 per cent higher than the same time last year.”
While this year’s wider theme targeted speeding, with its catchphrase ‘show up for your team, slow down on the road’, Shepparton police urged people to ‘be the one’.
“Be the one to call out the dangerous and bad driving, be the one to tell the driver or friend to pull over,” Shepparton Acting Senior Sergeant Jasmine Gregor said.
“Be the one to take the keys, be the one to be the designated driver.”
All netball and football teams involved across the Goulburn, Murray and Kyabram leagues wore blue armbands during their matches across the weekend.
Mrs Monaghan said that during the awareness initiative, clubs were encouraged to join the TAC Club Rewards program, which rewarded participants who promoted road safety within their communities, with a shared $700,000 up for grabs.
The program, in its sixth year, gave AFL Victoria-affiliated football and netball clubs the chance to earn up to $10,000 each in funding for their efforts.
While players donned blue armbands, members, staff and spectators were also encouraged to wear blue to the footy and netball to help promote the message.
As of July 25, there had been 176 deaths on Victorian roads compared to 159 at the same time last year.
For more information on the TAC Road Safety Round, visit tac.vic.gov.au
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