The West Coast Eagles are expanding their reach to regional Western Australia in an effort to make a stronger connection to the club faithful – and the broader community – outside of the metropolitan area.
To help conquer the divide caused by the geographical challenges in this vast State, the club has already placed permanent staff in a number of locations as part of its Regional Community Strategy.
Experienced community and game development staff are already established in Albany, Busselton and Port Hedland, but the club will now work towards enhancing the reach with positions being advertised for similar roles in Kalgoorlie, Newman and Bunbury.
“We have members and supporters right through the State and we feel it is highly important to ensure those people have a strong link to the club,” CEO Trevor Nisbett said today. “Many of them can’t attend games because of the logistics involved in travelling to Perth and we want to enhance their sense of belonging.
“There are broader community benefits from our programs that will and have been implemented by our staff using football as a tool to educate, support, motivate and inspire people to achieve their potential and lead a healthy, well-balanced life.
“While football is our core product, our community programs are also a major focus. We know we can have an impact on a range of levels, particularly encouraging and motivating children to attend school.”
Community coordinators are in place in Busselton and Albany while a youth engagement coordinator has been placed in Port Hedland.
The Newman, Bunbury and Kalgoorlie roles will be advertised early next week.
These additional appointments come at a time when the club will tonight dedicate its focus on the community and charity partners that it currently supports. That will occur before and during the clash with Richmond at Optus Stadium.
The community partners to be recognised are:
- Waalitj Foundation
- Town of Victoria Park
- WAFC
- Perth Football League
- All Abilities Football
- United Nations
- WA Police
- SEDA
- Edmund Rice Centre
- West Coast Fever
The charity partners to be recognised are:
- Telethon
- Youth Focus
- Foodbank WA
- FightMND
- Legacy
- Puka Up
