VAFA and the TAC Band Together

It takes all of us to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on our roads.

Making this a reality will only be possible if we all work together and play our part by driving safely.

This year marks 31 years of the TAC and AFL Victoria working together to speak to Victorians about road safety in order to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on the roads.

The message is just as important now as it was 31 years ago. As part of that partnership, the 2022 TAC & VAFA Road Safety Round will be held on the 15-17th of July, and every club state-wide is invited to take part.

This year, we aren’t just inviting clubs to participate, we’re calling on everyone in the community to get involved by wearing a new kind of armband, a blue armband. Paying homage to the black armbands traditionally worn on the field to honour a death in the community, this new armband is a reminder we all have someone to drive safely for.

Whether it’s your mother, your mate, your sister, your son or your entire team; whether it’s someone who is here, or someone who is no longer with us. The band contains a QR code that can be scanned to see a number of videos from Victorians talking about their reason for wearing the band, and everyone is invited to share their own reason on their socials.

The aim is to use these armbands to help create awareness and encourage community discussion about our mission to eliminate deaths and serious injuries on our roads.

Harry Hill, captain of Old Brighton is part of the TAC Road Safety campaign.

Hill joined VAFA’s For the Love of the Game podcast ahead of Road Safety Round to explain the message behind the blue bands that will be worn this weekend.

“It’s such a massive message, especially around footy clubs.

The way that footy clubs work, I think the important part of the message is we want to save as many lives as we can, we don’t want to lose any more people on our roads.

Making sure your mates get home safely. Knowing when you’ve had too much to drive.

We’re fortunate to be able to be involved (in this weekend). It’s great that the VAFA is getting around and it’s a really important message that we’ve set.” Hill said.

Why is this important?

As of the 28th June 2022 we have lost 124 lives on our roads in Victoria. 124 too many.

Last year, even with statewide lockdowns and a decrease in the amount of drivers on the road,

232 lives were lost on Victorians roads. And during the past 5 years, 1,182 lives have been lost on Victorian roads. Of this, 526 were from Melbourne (44.5%) and 655 were from rural Victoria (55.4%).

For updated lives lost to date, please visit the TAC website.