Australia Cup: Edgeworth Eagles host Western United in round of 32
One is a passionate community club with more than 130 years of history, the other is a flashy new professional franchise – and now they’ll meet in an almighty clash of cultures.
The Newcastle News
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In its very nature, the Australia Cup brings together vastly contrasting teams on the football pitch, with amateur and semi-professional state-based sides taking their best shot at fully professional A-League juggernauts.
However even in a competition like this you’d be hard-pressed to find two clubs so drastically different than Western United and the Edgeworth Eagles, who will face off in their round of 32 clash at Jack McLaughlin Oval on Wednesday night.
In many ways the pair epitomise the vast diversity of clubs running around in Australia’s football pyramid.
Tracing its history all the way back to 1892, Edgeworth is not only the oldest club still in the competition, but quite simply among one of the oldest in the country.
To put this into perspective, when the coal miners from the footballing heartland of northwestern Lake Macquarie first decided to set up a team in the village (then known as Young Wallsend), Queen Victoria was still on the throne and the idea of Australia was still very much a federalist’s dream.
For more than a century the club has experienced all of the ebbs and flows, tragedies and triumphs of grassroots sport, spending much of its life as a lower division battler before becoming a giant in the local Newcastle competition over the past three decades – all built on the back of hard work, shrewd administration and a huge junior base.
On the other hand, you’ve got Western United.
Playing its first game in just 2019, the club was established as a ready-made professional outfit, parachuted straight into the A-League as part of the expansion of the national league.
Instead of battling away in the lower divisions for a century, the Melbourne-based club tasted almost instant success, remarkably winning the A-League grand final in just its third season.
But while it has big money backing and an impressive national title to boot, the lack of history and uncertain sense of identity has led many football purists to question the credibility of the club, so often described as a ‘franchise’.
This is perhaps best demonstrated by Western United’s fan engagement and decision to split its home games between AAMI Park in Melbourne’s CBD, Geelong, Ballarat and even Launceston in recent years.
The team drew the lowest average home crowds of all A-League Men’s clubs last season at just 3100, and the proposed construction of a very much still uncompleted football-specific stadium in Tarneit in Melbourne’s west – a key part of the club’s bid that was meant to be completed in 2021 – is a running joke among football fans.
Indeed, while Edgeworth certainly doesn’t have the money, playing roster or shiny A-League licence of its opponent, it does have something that Western United craves: authenticity.
And that authenticity and community connection will be on full show on Wednesday night, when 90-year-old former president Thomas Brown, the club’s oldest life member, performs the coin toss before kick-off.
He won’t be the only former Eagle in attendance, with hundreds of former old boys officially confirming that they’ll be there to cheer the team on.
“We’ve got something like 380 old boys coming to the game, so it’s going to be a massive night,” said president Warren Mills.
If that’s not enough, in what seems like an ironic barb at their homeless opponents, Edgeworth will even open a new 180-seater grandstand at the match.
There is a special sense of occasion in inviting an A-League club to town for Edgeworth, who will be doing it for fourth time in the cup.
“We had Melbourne City with Aaron Mooy and lost in the last minute to his second free kick. We had Western Sydney Wanderers and we had the Jets with 4,500 people here – that was a great night. So we’ve played three A-League clubs and there’s a massive sense of pride and achievement,” said Mills.
And while they know the odds are against them, Mills said the club won’t be just there to make up the numbers.
“It’s a massive competition and it’s great to be a part of it. And who knows, David v Goliath, it’d be great to stick an early goal in and see what happens,” he said.
“As we know, these A-League clubs are in pre-season and we’re well settled into our season, so we’re fully fit whereas they’re still probably a bit underdone. The round of 32 is definitely the best chance to cause an upset.”
Edgeworth host Western United in the Australia Cup round of 32 at Jack McLaughlin Oval, Edgeworth, on Wednesday night at 7:30pm
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