It might still be summer, but now is the time to get organised for 2025 winter sports, and to sign up to play soccer, netball or rugby this year. The Epping area has an array of community sports clubs for all ages and grades – from 4 year old mini Socceroos through to walking netballers.

Community Bank Epping has been a long-time supporter of many clubs running winter sports through sponsorship and grants, including substantial amounts for capital works. In 2024, this included the fit out of new canteen facilities at Boronia Park Epping (home of Epping Eastwood FC) and Ron Payne Oval in North Epping (one of the grounds used by North Epping Rangers), equipment and training assistance for Roselea FC, Epping FC and Epping Bulls Cricket Club. And array of netballers were helped with training gear and coaching assistance including Carlingford Netball Club, Carlingford Flames, St Andrews Netball and North Epping Rangers.

2025 Winter Sports

Most clubs have their registrations open from early January through to around mid-February. Here’s a few helpful tips for making your choice, and a list of local clubs with links to their sites:

Helpful Tips:

• Many clubs have early bird discounts – but these usually finish at the end of January so don’t miss out
• If you are eligible for Active Kids Vouchers (2 per year), most clubs accept these against the cost of a child’s registration – an easy way to save $50! Find out more at Service NSW. Note that you must organise the voucher before you start to register with a club (not the other way round!)
• Many clubs offer family discounts for multiple registrations, or payment plans to help with spreading the costs
• Payment usually has to be made when you register
• Some clubs will have specific Registration Days where you can go along to chat to coaches and committee members
• There is big demand for some teams/age bands – so get in early for your club of choice
• Some teams/ages/sports will have grading days
• Most clubs train weekly at local sports fields, but weekend games may be out of area
• Get involved! Clubs can only run with people stepping up as team managers and coaches and it can be very rewarding. Clubs also need to supply sufficient umpires for games to operate. And then there is always the canteen roster …

Local Club information

Soccer

• North Epping Rangers (NER) – registration open from 2 January. Read up at https://ner.org.au/football/pricing

• Epping Eastwood FC (Tigers) – based at Boronia Park in Epping. Club registration is open from 2 January and information is here

• Roselea FC – registration is from 2 January at https://www.roseleafc.com/registration

• Epping FC – based in West Epping. Registration is now open at https://www.eppingfootballclub.com.au/index.php/registration

• Beecroft FC (the Wombats) – registration is open from 6 January

• Eastwood St Andrews FC – registration will be open through a link on their website

Netball

• North Epping Rangers (NER) – Registration is now open and will close on 11 February – go to https://ner.org.au/netball/

• Carlingford Flames Netball club – registration will open via website

• St Andrews Netball Club – Registration will open via their website

• Carlingford Netball Club – registration is open at https://www.playhq.com/netball-australia/org/carlingford-netball-club/cad776c4/register

• St Gerards Netball Club – based in Carlingford. Registration is open at https://www.stgerardsnetball.com/registration

• Beecroft Netball Club – registration is open now here: https://www.beecroftnetball.com.au/registration

• Marsfield Bluebelles – Registration will be on their website

Rugby Union

• Epping Rams – See their Facebook page for information on pre-season training and contact them via Messenger.