By Nick Creely
Melbourne City CEO Brad Rowse believes relocating the club to the south-east next year is a golden opportunity to open up pathways for emerging boys and girls, as well as connect and inspire the football-loving region.
The major announcement came last week that Melbourne City would relocate it’s a-League, W-League and Academy teams to an elite training facility at Casey Fields, with the backing of the cities of Casey and Greater Dandenong.
Rowse said that just looking at the numbers, and the power of work done by Team 11’s A-League license bid, the move made perfect sense.
“One of the things we’ve found, is that a lot of our members reside in the area – we also at the time, when Team 11 were submitting their bid for the region, knew it was a powerhouse of an opportunity for a club to be based there,” he said on the morning of the announcement.
“If you look at the facts, there is 1.6 million people living there, and I think 1.9 million when you factor in Gippsland.
“It’s been one of the fastest growing areas in the country for the last 10 years, its multicultural, residents from 160-odd nationalities, and there are 115 grassroots clubs.
“The biggest one for us, its probably rare in Victoria, is that football is the number one code – there’s only one professional sporting club in that entire region, compared to in and around Melbourne where there is a proliferation of sporting teams.
“So its very attractive to be the sole club representing the south east.”
Rowse praised the work done by Team 11 to help generate the energy and excitement about A League coming to the south east, and hopes to work together to help grow the game further.
“The work they did originally was absolutely fantastic, it wasn’t lost on us when they were in that process what an incredible opportunity it presented for that region,” he said.
“We’ve reached out, and given due respect to all the work they’ve done, and hopefully we can work together to help grow the opportunity and make the club a success in the region.”
Rowse said that the big focus for the club when they move into their new base at Casey Fields would be to engage with the community and expand on the work already being done to promote the game.
He also pointed to the club’s W-League team, which will play the first of four home games on 2 January at Dandenong City Soccer Club as a huge positive.
“A big part of the criteria for us it to be fully embedded in the community,” he said.
“Our current City in the Community program goes all around Melbourne, and a large part of it has been done in that region in the past, so we’ll be continuing that and expanding it in that area.
“In that grassroots clubs, we’re wanting to make contact and run programs and outreach into those clubs.
“We’ve already started with our W-League playing games at Dandenong City for this coming season and we’ll move our Academy there in Casey Fields in February.”
While discussion will continue to fuel around whether a stadium will be built in the south east, allowing for City to potentially play its games there permanently in the future, Rowse said that it was still too early for those discussions, and will instead focus on building its relationships in the new south east base..
“We’re still in a contract at AAMI Park, and that’s the plan at this stage – that’s not something we’ve discussed, but if its something in the future that is a viable opportunity after all the due diligence,” he said.
“We’ll be guided by the numbers and if it was compelling enough – its speculative, so right now our focus is having our base at the City of Casey.”
While City has in the past recruited heavily from the north and west of Melbourne, head coach Patrick Kisnorbo believes the move will open up opportunities for kids in the region to realise their dream of playing in the A-League.
“We’re building a facility that offers excellency – we’re creating something that will probably be the biggest thing in the Southern Hemisphere,” he said.
“It’s so exciting for players to be a part of, and for the south east – we’re expanding and we want the best for our group and players. We think it will be an easy move to this side.
“There’s 115 grassroots clubs in that region, so we’re being exposed to a wider range of players for our academies, and we want to create a pathway for our academies and to reach their goals and dreams one day.
“It’s exciting times for kids in that region, ourselves and everyone part of the group.”
Kisnorbo said that the area is a place close to his heart, with family links to Dandenong giving him a special connection to the move.
“It’s close to home, and it’s an area I’m well familiar with,” he said.
“It’s crazy how I grew up in that area, left and now I’m returning back home. It’s so exciting for us.”
