With all the excitement surrounding football at the moment with WSW being crowned club champions of Asia, the Socceroos gunning to win their first title and be Asian Cup winners we have our very own story of aspiration unfolding.

At a meeting prior to Christmas the NFA MC decided to invite the winner of our Nepean Cup to enter into Australia’s premier Cup competition, the Westfields FFA Cup.

St Clair United as current winners have recently accepted the invitation and will be entering this exciting tournament in 2015 and we will be following their progress closely and hoping for a fairy tale match up in later rounds!

Team nominations for this years Nepean FA Cup are coming round very shortly, so if you want to follow in SCUSC’s footsteps and have the chance to take on Australia’s best club teams, now is the time to organise your entry for the Nepean FA Cup and who knows who you may be playing against in 2016!!

IT’S REGISTRATION TIME AGAIN!

Date Published 07JAN15

The tinsel has only just been taken down, which means it’s time to start thinking about your football registration needs for the 2015 season.

Positions fill fast, so get in touch with your local club – some useful links follow, or you could go to the MyFootballClub website to find your local club.

LAWS OF THE GAME RULE 4 - SHIN PADS

Here is some excellent advice covering the selection and wearing of shin pads and below is a link with a document relating to how the matter is being handled by our local referees association.

We all know that the wearing of shin pads is compulsory. However, we often don't fully understand our obligations as players, coaches, managers and officials when it comes to thinking of the safety of ourselves and other players. Like the wearing of fluoro vests in factories, warehouses and building sites, the wearing of shin pads is taken for granted and often no -one really thinks about why they are being worn and what they should be doing.

As a result, players opt for comfort and often at the expense of protection. This season our local referees will be examining the situation more stringently than in past years and they will act to ensure that players are properly attired and have the necessary degree of protection from some of the injuries that can occur in relation to the lower leg.

Bigger means covering more of your shins…better protection – but less comfort. Smaller means less protection, more comfort

Definitely, in order to be able to play soccer to your potential, you can’t have too big shin guards.

Q: What is too big?

A: If a shin guard covers more than ¾ of your shin - it is too big.

If someone ever tells you that soccer shin guards should cover the entire length of your shin...
...neither he/she has ever played football nor he/she doesn’t know when the tibia (shinbone) starts and ends.

Remember - do not buy soccer shin guards that will cover your entire shin (up from the bottom edge of the knee cap-down to the top of the foot).
¾ of the length of the shinbone - this is the ultimate length of a soccer shin guard.

What if the shin guard is shorter than that?

According to FIFA rules there are no length limitations.
All it states is that shin guards “are covered entirely by the stockings; are made of a suitable material (rubber, plastic, or similar substances); provide a reasonable degree of protection”.

Just stick with the “3/4 of a length-rule” and you have the best combination of comfort and protection.

Tip! It is very simple to determine the right size of shin guards, actually the length of it.

Measure the length of your shin and then multiple by 0.75 (3/4-75%). The result is the maximum length of the shin guards you want to buy. That’s it.

Selecting soccer shin guards by sizes-small, medium, large could be confusing, because they differentiate from different manufacturers. So, if you buy shin guards in your local soccer store, make sure you have measuring tape with you.
If you want to buy them on Internet (cheaper), most of the online soccer stores specify the length of every shin guard.