Page 217 - History of Parkside Football Club (1897-2017) Editied Version Completed_optimized

Parkside Football Club 1897/2017

The 1971 FDFL season was opened in extremely hot weather.

The chronic junior player shortage seemed to have surfaced again at start of the 1971 season.

FDLF boss in his interview for The Mail in 1971 was a very critical of young people in western
suburbs.

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“Youth Is Lazy” - F.D.L president

“Three teams have been withdrawn from Footscray District League competitions because of lack of
players.

And FDL president, Mr. Bob Dye, this week at¬tacked teenagers — par-ticularly the 17 to 19 age
group — for its non-parti-cipation in active sport.

He said he would not mind so much if the young men were playing some sport other than football
but unfortunately they had taken the role of sporting spectators.

In many cases they were getting themselves into trouble and making a nuisance of themselves, he
said.

Mr. Dye said the lack of participation could be due to present trends such as availability of motor
cars, interest in girls, too much money and to a lesser extent greater involvement in studies.

But he also put it down pure laziness and apathy towards keeping themselves fit.

Mr. Dye said the FDL executive had been aware of the situation for several seasons, but alarming fall
off this year. He added that several clubs were battling to keep Under 18 sides on the field.

One club which had 134 registered players last year had a mere 22 registered at the start of this
season.

Mr. Dye dismissed the idea that football was too tough and stressed that the executive set high
standards of conduct and would not tolerate any larrikanism.

He said it was non-players who caused most of trouble and police were always alerted on these
occasions. He added that parents must accept some of the responsibility for not encouraging their
children to play sport. Teams which have withdrawn from their competitions are Seddon and North
Footscray, Under-18’s and Footscray Socials A Reserves.

This has resulted in a completely new draw commencing this week for the Under-18 competition and
a revision of the A Reserves fixture.

The team with one bye will now play the team drawn to play F & Y Socials (this will avoid having byes
each week).

Once a Parksider, Always a Parksider