Soccer’s kicking goals

Senior and junior female comps expanding

THE Geelong region girls’ junior soc- cer competition will expand for the third successive season, with a new under-14 league next year.

It comes as this year’s under-15 division will be rebadged to form a new under-16 competition in 2018.

Football Federation Victoria recently released a draft competitions structure for 2018, based on this year’s team entries as well as projected team entries for next year.

Because of the 13 stand-alone under-11 girls’ teams taking part in two MiniRoos Hubs this year, next year’s under-12 division will likely double from this year’s six teams.

It is hoped the expansion to three junior girls’ divisions in 2018 will provide a systematised pathway from MiniRoos to senior football for the first time in Geelong.

Meanwhile, the Women’s Division 1 league will next year field a full complement of 10 teams for the first time since 2015, when there was only a single division format at senior women’s level.

Last year’s Division 2 league, which had just seven teams, is likely to grow to at least 10 and potentially more, with early indications suggesting several new clubs will be entering the local women’s competition.

The signs are promising that Geelong Rangers, FC Leopold, Corio and new club Armstrong United FC are all looking likely to field a senior women’s team for the first time, while North Geelong Warriors are confident of re-entering a women’s team after not fielding a side in 2017.

Officials from existing Division 1 powerhouses Drysdale and Deakin Ducks are also privately confident that both clubs would field an additional women’s team in the Division 2 competition next season.