A-League for Geelong?
Kardinia Park would host early games
FOOTBALL Federation Australia is today expected to officially announce the two preferred new teams for an expanded A-League competition.
A bid by the proposed Western Melbourne franchise, which would host matches at Kardinia Park, was among six consortiums battling it out for one of the new spots.
After a year-long consultation process, the FFA board met last night to finalise its decision on expanding the league. Teams in Melbourne’s South East and South West Sydney were favoured to claim the honours, with bids also emanating from Canberra, South Melbourne and Sydney’s south.
Western Melbourne’s selling point was a self-funded 15,000-seat stadium in Tarneit, backed by the Wyndham council.
“Our game, football, for the first time will own its own sta- dium and facilities in these competitions,” the group, led by Geelong soccer legend Steve Horvat, said this week.
“We will fund the entire construction with private investment so that government money can be used where it is needed most.”
If they gained approval, Western Melbourne would begin work on building the stadium.
In the interim, they would play their historic early games in Geelong, Kardinia Park Stadium Trust CEO Michael Brown confirmed yesterday.
“We will be the host for the early matches of the Western Melbourne franchise, if they’re successful,” Mr Brown said.
“They tell me they are going to play games in Melbourne and games here.
“They’re keen to play here until they build their stadium.”
With no season schedules in place, Mr Brown said discussions had focused on the stadium’s availability during an increasingly busy summer period.
“We start to get progressively more difficult post-February as we get into the final weeks of AFL pre-season.
“Notwithstanding, we can turn the ground around in 24 hours.
“They will train somewhere else; they may house themselves here, we’ll find them some office space if they need to. From our perspective, it’s about welcoming new people.”
There was no firm timeline for the introduction of the new teams, with some calls to stagger them out over the 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons.
“We will be the host for the early matches of the Western Melbourne franchise, if they’re successful.” KARDINIA PARK STADIUM TRUST CEO MICHAEL BROWN