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Western United have the name and colours, now comes the hard part

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14th February, 2019
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The confirmation of Western United FC and their colours of green, black and white is a fantastic day for the rest of the A-League.

This is a club with a vision and commitment to bring forth a competitive side to the next season.

Josh Risdon is a quality signing, although I hope it does not set a precedent for this club to continue recycling players from other clubs in the future. The appointment of John Anastasiadis brings me hope that this won’t happen, as he brings expertise over the NPL due to his success with Bentleigh Greens.

While the marquee for next season, Panagiotis Kone, is not the big name many people where expecting, his experience for Bologna and the Greek national team should prove quite popular with the fans.

I have seen complaints over the name, Western United FC, however.

Admittedly, this is not the name I would have wanted from West Melbourne Group (did anyone else want Western Rangers FC?), but there is a significant meaning behind it. It is not a ‘uniting’ of clubs, but it is the ‘uniting’ of the Western regions of Melbourne.

I would have wanted them to include ‘Melbourne’ in the name for the sake of clarity, so people do not confuse it with a Western Australian team, but if this was the most popular, then so be it.

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The colour scheme – a proposed striped black and green home kit, and a white away kit – sounds unique and, perhaps crucially, distinguishes themselves from the rest of the A-League. The last thing that the league needed was another team in blue, and we do not have a club that plays in green (North Queensland Fury the exception).

Further separating themselves from the rest of the league is the presence of their own stadium and complex, a crucial component of their appeal.

If this stadium is successful, they will have another difference over the rest of the league – home games in an intimate setting with fantastic atmosphere.

Still, the hardest part of the bid is now to come.

They are claiming that the Western region of Melbourne contains 1.6 million residents, yet many do not know that this club exists yet. More importantly, most would not care either. United now need to focus all their efforts in making people want to sign up for memberships.

Josh Risdon shows off the Socceroos jerseys ahead of the 2018 World Cup

Josh Risdon (Supplied: Nike)

For what it is worth, here is why I have swapped teams to support Western United.

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I was originally an Adelaide United supporter. A few years ago I moved with my parents to Melbourne and, because of the intense rivalry Adelaide has against the Victory, I could not switch allegiances to them.

As for why I could not support City, my earliest memory of football is watching Manchester United drawing against Blackburn Rovers in the 2010-11 season to win their 19th Premier League title. There were many celebrations in my house that day, as both my brother and my father were diehard United fans. Supporting the City Football Group would not go down well.

In the four years I have been living in the western suburbs of Melbourne, I have been to approximately three Adelaide United away games. Obviously, I would’ve liked to go to more, but A-League tickets are expensive, and I had other commitments.

I missed the home atmosphere, and as time progressed, I felt my connection to Adelaide diminish. I feel more Melburnian than Adelaidian today, and I want to follow a club that represents that.

Of course, I will always have a soft spot for the Reds, but the appeal of being with a brand new club, and saying that I was there when they played their first game, is not lost on me at all.

This provides a blueprint as to what Western United need to do to recruit more members.

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The west of Melbourne is a large place, but for the new franchise to even take a fraction of the available support, they need to aggressively campaign for members. I am talking about setting up booths in shopping malls, billboards everywhere, television advertising, and public appearances by players, all covering as much ground as possible.

They must also target those who have become disillusioned with City and Victory – go into the CBD if necessary, and advertise there too.

They need to boost their online presence as well. The official Western Melbourne Group Facebook page left a lot to be desired in terms of fan content, so now that Western United FC is up and running, there needs to be much more engagement.

Many clubs struggle with boosting memberships, but can be accused of not trying hard enough. The A-League is not the AFL, and because of its relatively short history, it cannot rely on generations of support to drive memberships.

Western United are in an even riskier position because they are brand new. While this can be a selling point, it also means they must physically go out of their way and engage people.

There is so much potential in Western United, but they must seize on the opportunity presented. Performances on the pitch will obviously go along way towards attracting support, but there needs to be an initial base to start.

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Early signs suggest this will be less North Queensland Fury and more Western Sydney Wanderers, but we will know by October 2019 whether Western United will be a successful football club for generations.

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