A-League Women: Venues and rosters still not finalised just a month before season start
Interest has never been higher in women’s football in Australia and fans are clamouring for the chance to attend the A-League Women’s matches this season - but there’s just one problem.
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There is just over a month until the A-League Women competition kicks off but several clubs are still unsure about where they will be playing this season.
Newcastle Jets, Western United, Central Coast Mariners and Adelaide United all have “to be confirmed” next to some or all of their scheduled home game clashes.
With women’s team memberships for most clubs including Sydney FC, already surpassing records.
More than 9000 youths, aged 16 and under, have registered for the free passes to women’s games – already beating last season’s total a month out from the competition starting.
The expected surge in crowd numbers has left clubs hunting for new grounds.
Memberships sales could be much higher if grounds were confirmed with fans taking to social media pages venting frustrations at the uncertainty of where games will be played.
Adding to the confusion is the lack of certainty around who will be taking to the field for each team - with clubs opting to go with a slow release of signings rather than announce full squads.
For instance Adelaide United’s website has just 13 players listed, Western United have just 11, Melbourne Victory’s website has nine confirmed.
With teams starting pre-season next week surely their squads have been locked in.
Newcastle Jets played out of No. 2 Stadium in Newcastle West last season, which has a capacity of 5000 people.
A statement made by club Executive Chairman Shane Mattiske suggests the club is on the hunt for a larger venue – most likely to accommodate the surge in support for the women’s game off the back of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
“In relation to the A-League Women’s draw, we are currently working on finalising the venues for the year,” Mattiske wrote in the statement published on the club’s website.
“With an expanded number of Women’s games with (moving from 7 to 11 home games for the 2023/24 season) there is opportunity to expand the reach of our Women’s team.”
The statement said an announcement would be made this week but Jets are still yet to confirm where they will be playing.
Western United’s new home at Wyndham Stadium, with capacity for 15,000, is still under construction.
Coach Mark Torcaso said until it was ready the green and black would once again call City Vista home.
The stadium seats just 3000 people.
On the back of a successful inaugural season where United finished second behind Sydney FC and the World Cup fever Torcaso is hopeful the bigger stadium, when ready, will see an increase to crowd numbers.
“We brought in a couple of really good crowds at City Vista, I think we had two and a half thousand and 2000 in the couple of times we played there early in the season,” Torcaso said.
“It’s a nice local stadium which is within 10 minutes of our brand new facility that’s hopefully going to be completed soon and we will be able to finish the rest of the season at.”
Melbourne Victory have announced their stand-alone women’s matches will be played out of the new home of the Matildas at La Trobe University – it is also where the team will be training. It has just an 800-seat grandstand, but can accommodate up to 3000 people on the grass around the pitch.
Brisbane Roar will play at a mix of the refurbished Ballymore Stadium and Perry Park.
The season is due to kick off on October 14.
Originally published as A-League Women: Venues and rosters still not finalised just a month before season start
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