Casey-Dandenong soccer clubs ready to unite behind local push for an A-League license

MATT WINDLEY AND DAVID DAVUTOVIC,
Herald SunNovember 17, 2016 9:28pmSubscriber only

THE six biggest soccer clubs in the Casey-Dandenong region say they would unite behind a local push for an A-League license.The Casey and Greater Dandenong councils also endorse a south-east A-League bid and both have already identified appropriate locations - Casey Fields and Dandenong Showgrounds.

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Former Springvale City and Socceroos star Vince Grella headlines an impressive south-east production line that includes current players Scott McDonald, Eugene Galekovic, Curtis Good and Jackson Irvine.With a rapidly growing population that already numbers 1.2 million, the south-east is a perfect home for a professional club according to locals.


Each of Dandenong City, Dandenong Thunder, Springvale White Eagles, South Springvale, Berwick City and Casey Comets ardently support an A-League team being placed on their doorstep.“I’ve spoken to a clot of people in the community and there’s a real hunger for soccer. It’s taking off in the south-east and there’s no AFL here,” Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti said.

“We’ve got the right spot for it - the Showgrounds, which is only 500 metres from Dandenong Station. It’s a big parcel of land, 40 acres, perfect for a boutique stadium.“Dandenong is the most multicultural council in Victoria and they would back an A-League club.”Casey is the eighth-fastest growing municipality in Australia with a population of approximately 290,000 that is projected to grow to 459,000 by 2036.Dandenong has roughly 155,000 residents and will push 200,000 in 15 years.This year there were 2370 registered players in Casey - only Monash and Boroondara had more in Victoria - while Greater Dandenong had 1946.“If a super club was formed representing the entire region, it would be a raging success,” Dandenong City president Tony Dorotic said.South Springvale vice president Omi Emmanouilidis said such a team could match Melbourne City’s crowds straight away.Casey Comets president Dawn Stone said the club would also attract fans from areas like Monash, Frankston, the Mornington Peninsula and Gippsland.

A-League expansion is a hot topic, with at least two new teams to be added soon.South Melbourne has formalised a bid, Geelong is in the mix, but Berwick City president Joe Di Iorio said the south-east is another Western Sydney Wanderers in waiting.Thunder president Ferman Zekirija said a bid from the region “should have happened a long time ago”, while White Eagles vice-president Milos Sekulovski said a club in the south-east would be a valuable addition to the country’s youth development stocks.Casey Mayor Sam Aziz said Casey Fields would be a perfect training base for an A-League club.

In my opinion a team from South East Melbourne works.

Just some numbers in terms of LGA's and their population.

Shire of Mornington Peninsula: 144,685
City of Frankston: 135,243
City of Casey: 292,211
City of Greater Dandenong: 146,000
Shire of Cardinia: 74,176
City of Knox:149,340
City of Monash: 187,286
City of Kingston: 147,214
City of Glen Eira: 131,013
Combined Population = 1,407,168

Map for reference -


Map for growth until 2036 - 

Basketball and Soccer are kings of the South East, it's probably the part of the city were AFL is weakest.

 So many talented players in both sports coming out from there but it is way too far away for either the Vuck or City to adequately tap into. If they can actually get a stadium pledge going, then they jump right to the front of the queue for me.

Wow. This is EXACTLY what I didn't even dare to hope for. The councils behind it and ready to back a venue, the local NPL clubs uniting for the cause, this can be huge.

I have nothing to add from the article, so many compelling points.

South Melbourne President might pay out on this bid too.

This would be great. I think it's the best option for vic. There are too many teams too many codes the are in the city and inner burbs

Could work..unfortunately no stadium out that way so they would have to work that out, details are a bit vague but seems like they are in the very early stages of planning.provided this is legitimate..this is where the heart license should have gone 8 years ago. In fact if these guys were ready now they would be guaranteed a spot immediately.

Who doesn't want to be in the A-League, lost count now. With the amount of people putting there hand up we could get to 18 or 20 without a 2nd Nz side. 

In the expansion thread I've posted kits for 7 clubs now excluding the 2 Adelaide bids, NQ, Canberra, this one, Perth 2.

Should just include them all in a second division.

I really hope the FFA don't end up binning all these secondary bids that don't make the but instead sets up a timetable for expansion for these clubs with a possible 2nd tier... I guess I can wake up now.

Yup thats the biggest problem. Theres so many options and theyve got to find a way to keep those who dont get in happy and keep the energy.  Theyve turned away alot of good people before who've given up their own push. 

Maybe theyd have to have a clear set of criteria to meet and maybe name the next 4 teams saying soemthing like "these two you get in now, the next two you have a few years from then to get yourself sorted but keep the other teams on notice you arent part of those 4. I really dont know what the best way is to keep them all happy. A second div isnt the right idea. 

we should start planning for the second division

Not being from the area what would the new team be called?
Surely they can't go with South East Something? 
Would it be Mornington, Casey, Dandenong, or is their some other locality name that unites the South East? 

Apex FC

Apex fc, every member gets a free carjacking on the way there.

Club to be sponsored by Uber and will be operating a radical park-and-ride system on match-day...  Simply drop your car off outside the stadium and APEX will take it away for you, then call Uber for your ride home after the match.

In that case I suppose if we leave our cars at South Melbourne they'll be used as getaway vehicles for robberies on Chinese restaurants? 

Too topical.... Obscure even.... Id have to google search to get the punchline... And i suspect even then it still wouldnt be lol funny.

It's not meant to be funny. Hellas supporters would get it.

This is promising, the South East of Melbourne is the closest region Victoria has to creating it's on WSW.
The whole region has basically been neglected since the AFL ditched Waverley stadium 16 years ago.
Even though AFL is big out this area, the round ball has made huge inroads here since '06. A lot of local aussie rules sides are really struggling around the Dandenong region and junior sides are dwindling compared to 10 years ago.
Since then, the growth out that way has been phenomenal with improved links to the Mornington peninsula also.

I do have some queries though.
I've briefly been to the Dandenong showgrounds and it certainly seems smaller than 40 acres, google maps suggests similar.
It's about a 1.5km walk from Dandy station not 400m.
There isn't much parking out there, certainly not enough to withstand an influx of thousands of fans on matchday.

Is any other Melbournians from the area that could have some input on this?

Bit of journalistic licence there - showgrounds is actually 1.6km from the station.

Station is in the bottom right corner.

You've also got the White Star Dandenong Soccer Club at the bottom part of the showground complex.

But if the council is behind it, great piece of land close to public transport and the major roads.

Yarraman station is about 600m northwest.

On face value it makes a lot of sense. 

What's APEX? 

A lie spouted by dumb fkn racist white people who like to act like white people are better. Even when crime rates proportionate to population have been declining for years. 

Well, Apex does exist. People claim to be part of the gang and carry out acts in its name.

But yes, overall, youth crime in Melbourne is continuing its downward trend.

However stats released today show that though fewer youth are committing crime, the few that do commit crime happen to be committing more violent and aggressive crimes.

most violent crime - most of the worst violent crime -  is done by white people, mostly men, mostly to women, mostly to their families, friends and other close circles.  the apex name became a big thing when the mostly white male media confected outrage and started banging on about it. over a number of crimes that pale in comparison to the real problem areas of violence in australia.  

its not a dandenong issue.  its just that coloured people make white people uncomfortable because they get off on vilifying them. it sells papers and ad slots for aca and today tonight. 

Oh, don't disagree at all. White males are responsible for the worst crime stats in the country. Nearly 2 women a week being killed by their partner in DV situations, usually a white male partner. It's horrifying. And doesn't get the coverage it should.

And yes, because these car jackings and home invasions are conducted by POC, it's easy to sell the fear. But it would also be wrong to say that a gang like Apex isn't an issue.

Article comments on Dandenong, hence my correction of distance.
Gang of youths operating in Melbourne at the moment that are involved in carjackings, forced home entries, robbery and brawls.

Sweet,  RBB could use some decent competition

Especially now the NT has gone gay.

as long as their active fans are called apex let them in.

In all honesty this isn't a bad idea, I absolutely despise that part of Melbourne, but it's something that could be looked at for the future, they wouldn't be ready for a long while, so let's see if dandy city, white eagles, thunder can actually co exist in their own leagues without killing eachother first before anything happens here.

I'm sure next week the article promoting a potential Melbourne bid from the outer northern suburbs to be based out of a redeveloped Epping stadium is coming.

A south east team will basically exclude anyone north or west of the cbd, nobody but the people that live out that way is goimg to such a dump to watch football, so the local numbers will need to stack up, unlike west Sydney which was the hotbed of many NSL clubs, the south east has never had any form of top flight football. So it's no Wanderers of Melbourne that's for sure....BUT could work.

Even though the area is rife with crime, I mean it probably makes west Sydney look like a lush part of the country in comparison, it's really not for us to speculate what type of people will support such a club.

My bias aside, I'd only say SM is better because we have everything in place, we are officially bidding, the south east doesn't have a stadium, and by default that's puts us ahead on many levels, nothing more nothing less.

Maybe the area needs a first tier club on the national stage to look up to and give the kids in the area something to aspire to and be proud of.

Can move all these threads to ET now

There's a sticky for the Expansion Unicorns

And we finally get to Godwin's Law.

This topic has gone way off track.

Back on, I'd say the chances of the vic government building a boutique stadium in the south east is extremely low, nor the transport options needed for said stadium, they have long committed to keeping top flight sport in Melbourne within the cbd area, and therefore by default Geelong would be ahead of a south east concept.

Transport options seem pretty sorted if they redevelop the Showgrounds. Two train stations in spitting distance and Eastlink right beside it. Any redevelopment would have to include some parking structure, but to me, looks a pretty convenient location.

If there was private funding involved, would Vic Gov have a say in this? Realistically, what numbers would the stadium need to be to begin with? Seating for 5,000 with ability to hold a total of 10,000? Ability to expand stadium seating to a max of 15,000 or 20,000?

Part of me thinks that it's not worth half arsing it with like half a stadium at a time - might be okay for a State League side, but I do think a fully professional outfit in the top division should be a little more professional imo. I think a 20k seater right off the bat would be more suitable - could even include the country's first safe standing bay if they really wanted to be progressive. Not sure if the FFA still has their ridiculous AFC standard requirement for stadiums though, so that could hamper any effort in building something going forward.

Don't. Mention. Standing!

I suppose it really depends on when they would want entry, or when they would be given entry. How long would it take to build a new 20,000 seat stadium? I mean, AAMI was approved before 2007, wasn't complete until 2010. So a 2020 entry date for Casey?

EPL looking to bring standing back now

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/article/2016/11/18/premier-league-investigate-safe-standing

Standing would be great. Part of the appeal of the FFA Cup is standing on the fence, close to the action.

Loved it back in the day at Olympic Park.

Please leave politics out of AF you white trash cucklords. /pol/   /pol/ if you want to talk about the plight against 'good natured aussies'. 

Quite amusing seeing someone talk out about racism while clearly being racist themselves.

please tell me more. because racism has nothing to do with power and privilege.

Gonna say whites had Hitler Stat padding

-PB

Say what you like about Pol Pot but he didn't pad his stats.

Isn't that the WNBL teams name?

Dandenong Rangers, good to see some competition from the victorian areas and also good that there is atleast a bid from each of sydney, melbourne and brisbane so will be tough on ffa, will be hard to turn down a big city team.

Dandenong Rangers.. I like the name

They can already get fucked

Ok ok how about the Dandenong Celtic then? Make you happy?

Except there is already a major basketball club in Dandenong with that name.

Brilliant expansion opportunity-for when Lowey/Gallop feel its the right time, around 2039 perhaps. We need to send funds to useless projects that can't be noticed first!  

You should start the wagon rolling to make sure that doesn't happen.  Put up that long list of useless projects.  I can't because, as you've stated, I haven't noticed them.

This excites me. The Casey/Dandenong area is the most populated in Melbourne. It is also an untapped region, unlike WSW who have several NRL clubs and GWS in their backyard the outer S/E of melbourne is free for the taking. I would love to see the other options for a stadium site. I seem to recall a discussion on here or austadiums highlighting the fact that the above discussed parcel of land is too small. Perhaps they could look in the Berwick area? Huge growth corridor and lots of space to build a massive community sporting precinct, or maybe add on to Casey fields. 

For me of all the bids (in Victoria at least), this is the real sleeping giant.

If done properly, this could be massive. i really see alot of parallels with the Wanderers

Of all the sporting codes, all have been too timid to tap into the South Eastern market, you are talking about a catchment area of over 1 million people.

It would be great if they could start small, like a 10k stadium, establish a base, and grow it organically and develop an identity for the area.

I have no doubts in my mind, if done properly it would work.

Don't see the parrelels with the Wanderers, west Sydney was the traditional hot bed of the sport, home to many NSL clubs and an existing base, melbournes south east has never had a top tier club, not even in the NSL, they had basketball in the 90s with the south east Melbourne magic and that was it, but even they played at rod laver arena before folding, Still maintain this is where the heart license should have gone, at least as a base, but they screwed it up. It would be a 3rd plastic club and anyone who has any interest that way would already follow one of the other two that exist, could have been a different story if they tried it a decade ago, I still maintain top tier football codes will always be based out of the cbd in this city..that's the direction the vic government started taking us when they knocked over Waverley park. We don't do suburbs here anymore, it will look bush league.

As far as victorian expansion options go, its a no brainer..

1.First, and obviously smfc. All their ducks in a row. A real club that exists in the here and now, with a championship history.

2. Geelong. In the next round of expansion once they invent a club.

3. Casey. Is really the only other "ffa westfield expansion franchise metrics catchment area TM" that vic has without going completely bush. Theyre also 3rd because theyre the shittest potential away trip known to mankind.

you forgot to add the phrase 'in your opinion'.

OK.. In my opinion Dandy is the shittest potential away trip known to mankind (besides nix).

From what I have read this is the best bid by light years... stadium is the only issue but could they use the old AFL one at least for a couple of seasons... BTW I am from the Central Coast and have no idea of how things work in little Mexico ...

Precicelsy midfielder. Youre out of your depth again. Try understanding what youre talking about before making such lofty statements like "best bid in years".

"stadium is the only issue "

Ok. Just the superfluous little irrelevant stadium thingy... And other than the fact that the proposal is for a not yet invented club, the ffa must be barking not jumping on this with both feet.

Ps. I mean who doesn't want hal teams to play out of AFL stadiums.. Thanks but no thanks.

I think moving forward one of the absolute pre requisites is that any bid that comes forward has to have as an absolute must a rectangular seat stadium. No more ovals. If there is one thing that we all know for certain, is that oval shaped venues for our code loses much of the attraction of going to a live game, as so much of the atmosphere is lost unless you are able to fill for the stadium up to the brim and even then it's debatable.

So to be honest at present I dont think many of the bids really stack up. 

Tasmania - No
Sth Melb - Maybe if they put up stands behind goals (unlikely)
Geelong - No
2nd Brisbane - Possibly yes
Sth Sydney - Possibly yes

Casey does mention that the bid and the council want to redevelop the showgrounds, so you'd expect that to be a new, rectangular stadium.

The Tassie bid talks of a redevelopment of Nth Hobart, but is that just to increase capacity/amenities and not convert to rectangular?

But ultimately, it won't be a stopper, and shouldn't be. Plenty of teams around the world play in oval stadiums with running tracks etc around the pitch.

The herald sun poll results as of now:

South Melbourne - 50%

Geelong - 19%

Casey/Dandenong - 31%

So two out of the three options aren't even existent as clubs and SM (whose fans would've voted in the poll) only manage 50%?

True. An overwhelming landslide doesnt quite cut it.

Go out and get some fresh air draupy. 

The other option for a stadium could be Sandown as there are apparently plans to sell the land by the racing club.

There is a station there also and could be worked into a mixed use development by a generous developer :)

Overall though, how can a stadium of 10k+ be built that makes financial sense out there?There are very limited opportunities to use the stadium effectively across the year which makes this a difficult one to see happening.

In my view though, a club playing out there and not just based there would be a big strategic advantage. It's a big market that has not been tapped into effectively yet.

If a stadium solution can be reached, this would be my priority list of the 3 potential bids:

1/ South-East Melbourne
2/ South Melbourne FC
3/ Geelong

All three options have pros and cons

Surely the idea of a South - Eastern Melbourne team would have to be a very attractive option to the FFA as it meets the where the fish are mantra and the area has no local competition all, the lack of infrastructure is a not insurmountable but very real problem. 
Geelong has the stadium which is its advantage over the Eastern Melbourne option but it also has other barriers to contend with such as local AFL competition.
South Melbourne has to contend with two other Melbourne CBD teams which may work for or against it, and its supposed ethnic ties which may or may not be relevant.

Hopefully the FFA considers each bid carefully and who is to say we can't have more than one extra team in Victoria/Melbourne.

There is no chance SMFC will get granted an expansion license. The FFA would not care how by viable or successful it will be. Their only hope is through the establishment of promotion and relegation.

Most of the votes for the other 2 would be from people that don't want south in for obvious reasons as opposed to supporting the other 2, half the vote is a pretty significant win overall, we obviously outnumber the haters. Would have thought the fastest growing region in Victoria would run us a bit closer.

Speaking of regions, I've got a question and I'm sure if the FFA are talking to South this would be a major talking point.. Who exactly does South Melbourne represent now, or who do they intended to represent? I'm sure 99% of their fans don't actually live in South Melbourne the suburb. Are they aiming to represent the South of Melbourne? How do they stop becoming just another broad based Melbourne team?

Reason why I ask this is that they already have a great supporter base for an NPL club and I reckon they'd do well to begin with, however how does South grow in the future, other than appealing to Greeks?

My previous understanding was that the club would focus on promotional activities through the south and south-east corridor (which is ironic considering the Dandenong bid) - differentiating themselves on the basis that Victory and City both try to claim the whole city, whereas South would be genuinely claiming one part. 

Well SW andP - no less, so-called commercial partnerships that are not fully disclosed, investing in digital platforms for grass roots, to connect them to A League-hot air..which means what?  Incentives for stakeholders at all levels, I can go on and on, I'm bored! Just expansion!!!!!!!!!!!! More strakeholders will come in with more products and services-on the field! We should be able to say yeah, we can currently sustain at least 14 teams. All I care about.

I'm sorry but I really, genuinely, don't understand what you're getting at.

Commercial partnerships can't be useless projects by definition.  The game gets something from them.  Often they can't be "fully disclosed" because the commercial partner wants it that way.  Westfield's investment in the W League would be an example perhaps?

If you mean the registration system in reference of the "digital platforms for grass roots" then I differ strongly.  It's simply the best admin tool that's ever been gifted to the local game.  Saves an absolute fucktonne of problems for small clubs and larger clubs alike.

Incentives for stakeholders at all levels?  How is that broad heading a useless project in any form?  The FFA Cup is a useless project? Or what?

If you want expansion of the professional game then you and I and a million others agree.  It's not a useless project and there are no projects useless or useful that I am aware of that contradict or conflict with the aim of increasing the size of the professional game in this country.  I only differ from many on the subject in how it should be done.  I want to see ambitious Clubs take their desire and make it happen by cooperation amongst themselves, rather than sit round whining about how it isn't being gifted to them.  If that had been the attitude of decades past then the game wouldn't even be played here today.  It would seem the loudest complainants have the least desire to do the heavy lifting. 

"We should be able to say yeah, we can currently sustain at least 14 teams. All I care about."
Laudable but nothing to do with "useless projects".  AFAIK the FFA is negotiating to have 12 teams guaranteed and possibly 14 teams in the next 4 years.  (Wouldn't surprise me if they just added 4 straight up). They have said they actually want 16 but they will only add more teams in a manner that keeps the the League stable rather than risk losing them quickly as has happened in the past.  I can live with that.
Plenty can't. 

Casey-Dandenong are ambitious.  I like that. More power to them.  If they truly believe then they will make it happen.  If they just say "we have a great idea and now we want someone else to run with it" then they will fail absolutely.

Dandenong-Casey (DC) Athletic.

Anything associated with South East Melbourne just is too long to roll off the tongue imo.

if it was 6 clubs coming together then DC United would make sense too (I think there is an MLS team called that though)

DC United is where Fred landed after Victory. You'd think there would be copyright issues with that, wouldn't there?

yeah, they'd probably have a worldwide patent the name, but I'm unsure of legalities regarding football club names. You'd imagine with traditional clubs clashes are fine, but with franchises it's more of a grey area

since Dandenong Rangers is taken, how about Melbourne Rangers FC.

Die Die Rangers Fucking Die

Mornington Magic

Really piss the AFL off and take Casey Scorpions? Or go Casey Football Group, or CFG?