Over the years, the Shepparton Cup has been a staple in the football calendar. It is an event which has plenty to offer, not only for young girls and boys but for the community as well.
The town of Shepparton receives enormous economic injection through the tournament and is an ideal weekend getaway for families of all sizes.
The event provides an opportunity for rising stars of the game to participate, with the overall quality of the tournament improving every year. A very successful Goulburn Valley Suns team won back-to-back Cups in the U16 division during 2018 and 2019, which at the time featured Socceroo Garang Kuol, his brother Teng Kuol and Melbourne City goalkeeper James Nieuwenhuizen.
Australian Football Skool (AFS) has been organising events like the Shepparton Cup since 2007 and has seen tens of thousands of great players participate in these events.
Another key Socceroo in Ajdin Hrustic participated in the 2007 and 2008 editions of the tournament, winning all accolades as an outstanding junior player who showed he had the x-factor, even at the tender age of 12.
Unfortunately, due to the unprecedented flooding which had a significant impact in Melbourne and regional Victoria, the Shepparton Cup had to be cancelled for a third year in a row as the facilities and the entire surroundings had been severely damaged.
In an exclusive chat with Soccerscene, Rolando Navas, the founder and a member of the board of directors for AFS, shared some insights from the family-owned business who have been organising the Shepparton Cup for many years now.
He also touched upon their commitment and ways of helping the Shepparton community during this difficult moment in time.
Since the event was cancelled the AFS has partnered with Greater Shepparton Foundation, how did this come together?
Rolando Navas: The AFS has been hosting the competition in Shepparton for over 10 years now. It started with 40 teams and the highest we have had is 287 teams. We haven’t been able to host the event for a couple of years now due to Covid and the floods earlier this year, so we collaborated with the Greater Shepparton Foundation along with other partners to help the people affected by the floods.
The Shepparton Cup is more than just a sporting event for the community. We teamed up with the foundation in assisting the town to navigate through this unprecedented time and help spread some positivity. This is the biggest football tournament in Victoria, and it means a lot to us.
You mentioned that the Shepparton Cup is more than just a sporting event for the community. What impact does the cup have?
Rolando Navas: It’s massive for the community with respect to attracting over 10,000 people over a weekend. Local accommodations are boosted during the cup weekend, as well as other various local businesses such as sporting outlets, food markets and the surrounding towns of Shepparton due to this influx of people over the course of the event. Grassroots soccer clubs and associations also benefit as they often organise catering for the teams involved and the local food truck businesses also receives a massive boost during the event.
The atmosphere we want to create is more of a carnival type and not just a sporting event. We had planned to have a local expo this year to encourage families who aren’t involved with soccer to showcase their artwork and handicrafts. The cup also provides councils an ideal platform to market themselves and the tourism sectors of Shepparton and its neighbouring flourishes along with creating employment for local contractors, referees and many more to help stage this carnival.
The Shepparton Cup is massive, and we hope to see it return in the near future. What are the things to look out for during next year’s event?
Rolando Navas: There is a massive appetite for the event. I always get asked about it and we continuously look for ways to grow and expand. It is one of AFS’s marquee events and we are working towards getting teams from not just other states but also international teams from New Zealand and Asia to grow the cup into the biggest – not just in the state but also the country. We are also working closely with the council to cater for the demand and have added another venue in Mooroopna which is an eight minute drive from Shepparton. We also want to add more accommodation options for the expected influx of guests for the cup as well. We intend to raise awareness through our other events that run throughout the year and tentatively plan to host the Shepparton Cup in October 2023. Additionally, we have organised an indoor flood relief futsal event in February 2023 to help the town and bring positivity to the community. Shepparton is our flagship event and we are constantly looking to evolve this further.
AFS also partnered with Shout For Good, how did this come along?
Rolando Navas: They are a great platform to fundraise which doesn’t charge any fee and collects funds sophisticatedly along with being tax beneficial for all donors. We reached out to them and we plan to work with them for future events. In addition, we introduced them to the Greater Shepparton Foundation which is a charity themselves and all three organisations decided to collaborate to help provide relief for the town. All the funds being donated go directly to the people who are in need and are recovering from the floods.
You can make a donation via the Greater Shepparton Foundation, which will provide valuable assistance towards the Shepparton Cup and local community.
To donate, please click here.
