Local soccer players back Team 11’s Dandenong Stadium design for A-League expansion bid
EXCITEMENT for an A-League club in Melbourne’s southeast is building with local players backing the plan for a $170 million soccer stadium in central Dandenong.
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EXCITEMENT for an A-League club in Melbourne’s southeast is building with local players backing the plan for a $170 million soccer stadium in central Dandenong.
Team 11, the committee tasked with bringing the national competition to our backyard unveiled its 15,000-seat stadium design on Monday. The stadium would be built should the region win one of the league’s expansion licences in October.
“It’s awesome,” said 19-year-old Natasha Dakic from Victorian Women’s National Premier League side Southern United.
“To have a stadium and W-League team on our doorstep would be fantastic.
“I’d definitely go to games, you wouldn’t have to travel far, it’s better than travelling more than an hour.”
She said if the team was created she hoped to one day pull on their jersey, as do the other young girls and aspiring footballers at her club.
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Dandenong City Soccer Club president Tony Dorotic said the opportunity to have visits and clinics with A-League stars, form a membership relationship and get access to high level coaching would give his players something to aspire to.
South Springvale Soccer Club committee member Peter Tragakis said if the region was successful in getting an A-League team and stadium it would inspire more children to take up the game.
“I think you’ll get more kids coming and playing in teams,” he said. “Kids love soccer, they’re playing it in the streets, they’re playing it everywhere.”
His club has about 200 juniors but he said it could cater for double that.
The stadium would be located on a vacant block of land on Cheltenham Rd, 100m from Dandenong train station.
Greater Dandenong councillor and passionate Team 11 committee member Jim Memeti said with 17 soccer clubs in the municipality, the most in Victoria, “we’re going to have a problem keeping people out”.
“We don’t need people to drive from the other side of Melbourne, we’ve got 1.2 million people right in our backyard,” he said.
Jayco Caravans owner and Dandenong local Gerry Ryan said a local A-League soccer team would give children and the community a cause they can unite behind, be inspired by and feel connected to.
He said the stadium would bring investment and jobs to the southeast and as for contributing to its funding, he said he was considering his options.
“If we can get the community behind it, I’m sure that we can get it funded,” he said.