Stephen Buckley

Canterbury College’s ‘Boots ‘N’ All’ Platinum Partnership With Rochedale Rovers Football Club

Canterbury College’s ‘Boots ‘N’ All’ Platinum Partnership With Rochedale Rovers Football Club

After the popular success of the Socceroos’ reaching the Round of 16 at the 2022 Men’s World Cup, and the Matildas achieving fourth place at the 2023 Women's World Cup, Canterbury College and the neighbouring Rochedale Rovers Football Club are riding the surge of community football participation and support with a Platinum Partnership.

Meetings in late 2023 found a compelling range of mutually practical, social and sporting benefits to both parties, that soon morphed into a 12-month agreement that is really forging ahead.

Rochedale Rovers FC President Mr Jon Mckain and their Director of Football Mr Scott MacNicol, recently spent some time on campus with College Principal Mr Dan Walker and Canterbury’s Football Coordinator Mr Luke Harmer, to discuss the partnership’s strength to date.

“It's a really good relationship from the Rovers point of view to join with Canterbury College, and we’re excited about what this can look like over the next 12 to 24 months,” Mr Jon Mckain said.

“First and foremost, the idea to have young boys and girls that play football at this school also connecting with our club, is really the rationale behind why Rochdale joined this partnership.”

“There's some amazing facilities here at the school that we're really excited to potentially utilise for Rovers Club training and matches.”

“And in return, we've got some great coaches and expertise within our club, that we believe we can help the school with, when developing their young players and building their football program.”

President Jon Mckain was a highly successful 17-year professional club football player from 1999 – 2016, and represented Australia 16 times – including at the 2004 OFC Nations Cup, 2004 Athens Olympics, 2005 Confederations Cup and 2011 Asian Cup.

He played football in Romania, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia; and for the Brisbane Strikers, Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide United back home, and for the Rochedale Rovers after his professional retirement until 2019.

Canterbury Principal Mr Dan Walker is especially pleased to have a local Logan club and Club President of such high calibre partnered with the school.

“Rochedale Rovers are one of the big brands in Brisbane and Queensland Football, and one of the longest serving clubs in their competitions, serving a large area of Brisbane’s southside,” he said.

“So there's a major advantage for Canterbury being able to align with their size and success, and to leverage that great club and their coaches and expertise, and the pedigree of the people involved in that club, to help improve the standard of our own boys and girls football.”

“It’s important for Canterbury to have Rochedale as a marquee code driver, as it’s in a real growth phase now, and we've got some top people in our program led by Coordinator Luke Harmer.”

“He's been able to attract some high quality coaches, and what we're hoping for is that those growing player numbers translate into on-field success, and get our boys and girls feeling like this is a winning program, as well as a mass participation program.”

Canterbury Football Coordinator and Teacher Mr Luke Harmer was in full agreement.

“We're seeing the green shoots of this partnership and the growth of student interest in football already in 2024, with the success of our girls teams, who’ve really made their mark on the TAS competition this year in Term One,” he said.

“And now we're hoping in Term Two, when pre-season training kicks off for Term Three, when boys’ TAS football starts, that we just rise another standard again – a uniform lift right across our teams against the other schools, with Rochedale Rovers’ coaching support and player development during weekday training and Saturday match-days.”

Rochedale Rovers FC’s Director of Football Mr Scott MacNicol can only see upsides to the club and school enjoying a long-term relationship.

“As our Club President Jon said, we've got a good relationship with the school, with Dan Walker, Arnie Marraiya, Luke Harmer and Jackson Rossi,” he said.

“So we know a lot of the people involved at the school, and this really helps us with what we're trying to build with our own women's and girls’ football programs, as Canterbury has a good girls program here with their football.”

“We're hoping that continues to build, and we can help supply some coaches, and then we can help with some coach education, and we can help build the school and club programs together.”

“Canterbury parents and players will see what the Rochedale Rovers can provide, and this gives them the avenue to play football outside of the school with our club, and go on playing for us after graduating from school as well.”

This exclusive Platinum Partnership incorporates ground signage, jersey branding, a Junior Football Academy Day, expert coach training and player development, plus shared playing fields, training equipment and facilities.

Mr Scott MacNicol added that Canterbury College provided an excellent change of training scenery and other practical ground-level benefits.

“We've already gotten to utilise the campus facilities here with the senior players, and the seniors really enjoyed coming here.”

“They came down and did a pre-season event here and it’s excellent what the school offers for us onsite with the two pools, the full gym, and the amount of playing fields that are here as well.”

“It’s very handy having training and playing fields available here timing-wise, when we have to do field renovations at our own Rochedale grounds.”

The only dampener so far has been the wet weather washing out the full Junior Football Academy Day that Canterbury and the Rochedale Rovers Club had jointly planned for the pre-season – with football skills, fitness drills, a gym workout, pool recovery session and even nutritionists, but other opportunities will soon arise.

But overall, this partnership’s timing is perfect for the Logan region according to Rochedale Rovers FC President Mr Jon Mckain.

“Football is really growing here in general, and with grassroots numbers, especially off the back of the highly successful and lucrative FIFA Women's World Cup for Football Australia.”

“And for our club for example, we've got this massive influx of players from that six, seven, eight, nine, ten age group that we're having to source extra playing and training fields, and we’re having to put in new teams.”

“So I think this partnership can certainly help us here around some of the challenges we're having finding green space, while also helping the College support those players who want to play outside of school football.”

So what does the future look like with this partnership for Canterbury Principal Mr Dan Walker?

“We see a future of big numbers of our boys and girls as football players – with Canterbury and with Rochedale, both as school students and as school graduates playing club football.”

“Rochedale with the coaches, the expertise, the data, the professionalism and the history for us to be more successful on the pitch, and Canterbury with the young players, the raw talent, the extra playing space and the facilities for both parties to share and grow.”

by Stephen Buckley