It’s Friday morning and we’re in the offices of Macarthur FC, five floors up in a building in Oran Park, opposite the retail hub.
Guests include the mayors of Campbelltown and Camden, George Greiss and Theresa Fedeli, State MP Peter Sidgreaves and John Tsatsimas, the CEO of Football NSW.
Macarthur FC owners Gino Mara and Sam Krslovic, who is also club CEO, are hosting the morning tea to celebrate an important milestone.
The club’s big community initiative, the Bulls in Schools program has now reached the 50,000 participants mark.
It’s obvious both Marra and Krslovic are proud of this community engagement program.
But it is Krslovic, whose idea it was to run Bulls in Schools, who captures the essence of what Macarthur FC is all about – a local club based locally.
“Macarthur FC are here in Macarthur every day,’’ he says.
As for Marra, he says the club is grateful to Campbelltown Council and Macarthur Square, who backed in Bulls in Schools with sponsorships.
“Without the support of Campbelltown Council and Macarthur Square we wouldn’t have been able to run this,’’ he says.
Mr Marra rolls out some impressive statistics to go with the 50,000 milestone, including that eight percent of Bulls in School applicants are Indigenous, while 58 percent speak another language at home.
“The program is about teaching football skills but just as much about teaching participants about wellbeing, reconciliation and inclusion.
“It’s a program that’s important to us – it’s going to be the cornerstone of what this club does now and in the future.
“We look forward to trying to expand the program over the next two years.’’
Marra says the program is also about promoting the region.
“We are proud of the Macarthur region, we love the region, it’s been good to us, and we want to make it better,’’ he says.
Peter Sidgreaves chimes in at this point to say: “Everything Macarthur FC have done for South Western Sydney has been really significant.
“It’s a great community football club.’’
