All Northern Football Netball League competitions will this weekend support the Pat Cronin Foundation, as part of the Pat Cronin Foundation Round.
The Pat Cronin Foundation Round is dedicated to honouring the life of Pat Cronin and aims to raise awareness to prevent coward punch attacks.
The Pat Cronin Foundation aims to create a difference in attitudes to violence of any level.
All NFNL clubs will this week be selling Pat Cronin Foundation wrist bands and collecting money using the Pat Cronin Foundation collection tins provided to all clubs.
Please get behind this cause by selling the wrist bands and raising money that will go towards raising awareness to prevent coward punch attacks.
All clubs in the NFNL are encourage to make a statement of support to end the coward punch. Some ideas that have been suggested include:
• Respect for other people. As a simple gesture of respect we ask all players to shake the hand of their opponent both before and after each game.
• Include a paragraph or two in your newsletter or social media communications this week about the Pat Cronin Foundation Round and the need to end violence at any level.
• Add the following hashtags to your communications #BeWise #Endthecowardpunch
Following the Pat Cronin Foundation Round, a Pat Cronin Foundation documentary will be shown at Village Cinemas Doncaster on Monday June 4.
The Pat Cronin Foundation have had the documentary made to tell the story about what happened to Pat, the devastation this has caused to us and all who knew Pat, the formation of the Pat Cronin Foundation and the work the foundation intends to do.
Tickets are available to be purchased prior to the evening via https://www.patcroninfoundation.org.au/event/pat-cronin-foundation-documentary-screening-northern-football-netball-league/.
Below is a message from Matt Cronin, on behalf of the Pat Cronin Foundation.
On the 16th of April 2016, Pat went out for a quiet Saturday night and was coward punched from behind whilst assisting a mate who was being attacked. Two days later we made the agonising decision to turn off his life support system.
Pat was the youngest of our three children. Emma 25, Lucas 23 and Pat was 19.
Pat was a promising footballer where he had played 129 games of junior football at the Research Junior Football Club and 41 games for the Lower Plenty Football Club, with four senior games included.
He also won the previous two Under-19 Best and Fairest awards at the Lower Plenty Football Club.
Whilst images of Pat as a footballer will live in people’s minds, he wasn’t just a footballer. He was a smart kid who had achieved excellent results in Year 12 at Whitefriars College and had been awarded a scholarship at La Trobe University, where he was studying to become a physio.
Quietly spoken and gentle-natured but with a fierce determination, Pat was enormously popular and had a deep love for his family and friends.
His death has left a gaping hole in our lives and caused devastation amongst not only us but also his friends and the broader communities in which we have been involved.
We are determined that Pat’s life be honoured and that no other family should face the devastation we now face as a result of his senseless death.
The first intention of the Pat Cronin Foundation is to honour Pat and everything we do will focus on that.
The secondary intention of the Pat Cronin Foundation is to prevent coward punch attacks and we will do this through:
• Awareness
• Education and,
• Research
Pat was our son, yet he could so easily have been any of your children or someone you know. Pat was a brother, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin, a friend, a school mate, a work mate, a uni mate, a team mate and a captain.
So what can you do to support us in helping to make a change?
• Firstly, keep your fists to yourself.
• Secondly, if you know someone who has a tendency to get into fights, help them to avoid the situation – be their wing man and get them out of there.
• Thirdly, contact us to arrange a presentation for your club
• Finally, like and share our Facebook page, make a donation, buy a wristband, a t-shirt or stubby holder and talk to your kids, your workmates, and anyone else you know about this tragedy and help to spread the word.
Pat was a normal kid.
We are just a normal family.
We live in a normal suburb.
If this can happen to us, it can happen to anyone.
BE WISE
THERE IS NO EXCUSE
END THE COWARD PUNCH
For more information please visit our website www.patcroninfoundation.org.au or like and share our Facebook page www.facebook.com/patcroninfoundation.
