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Following Australia’s 2018 World Cup qualification, football is booming in Melbourne’s South-East, A-League hopefuls Team 11 are building momentum in their efforts to claim a coveted A-League licence.
With clubs from every corner of Australia putting their strongest foot forward at one of two A-League spots for the 2019-20 season, proposals require substantial community backing.
Project Manager of Team 11 Matt Windley is very confident the local support is there in Melbourne’s South East.
“It really got kickstarted by local clubs, saying they really want to get behind an A-League club in the region,” Windley said.
Melbourne’s most recent A-League expansion team the Melbourne Heart, now Melbourne City has seen its member base stagnate at around 10,000. Windley considers the South-East as a football ‘hotbed’ and can match City’s numbers in year one.
“The supporter base will be massive, I’m so, so confident of that.” Windley said, often visiting and discussing the proposal with local clubs, “I’m yet to have a negative conversation about this.”
One such supporter of the proposal, President of South Springvale Soccer Club, Omi Emmanoulidis has been on board since day one and shares Windley’s confidence.
“If an A-League team came in the South-East, the numbers would be greater than Melbourne Heart when they first came into the competition,” he said.
At the heart of the Team 11 Proposals are significant footballing infrastructure upgrades, important to the development of talent.
“Knowing if you make it, you’ll be training at professional training facilities and playing on a world stage pitch.”
“Knowing that there is a pathway that could fulfil a youngster’s dreams,” Emmanoulidis said, advocating for the investment in the game.
An initial $18-million upgrade to training facilities at Casey Fields is the first step in community investment by the Team 11 Consortium. Grand plans follow with agreements in place to fund a 250-million-dollar stadium in the centre of Dandenong to host A-League matches and concerts if Team 11 are successful.
From outside the immediate area, Beau Newman of the Monbulk Rangers believes football nation-wide let alone South-East needs investment to capitalise on the sport’s growth.
“Football is the highest growing and biggest participated sport in the country, we should be doing something more to promote that.”
“When you’ve got something growing so greatly in front of you, you’d be silly to not promote it,” Newman said.
Proposals to the FFA from around Australia will be reviewed and the two successful applicants for an A-League expansion team will be announced in October of this year.
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