Am I right in saying they’d have a target core of about 700k people? Wyndham, Melton, Brimbank and Hobson Bay, I know they target all the western suburbs, but the area’s around Footscray are closer to AAMI than Tarneit, so I think they’ll struggle to attract a lot of support from the inner west. + Geelong, which is a bit of a stretch but I mean they’re playing there for 3 seasons so I’ll add Geelong.

So IF I’m right on that, 700k is a pretty good population base to draw support from. 

What’s the future population meant to be in this area in 10-15 years? Is it basically gonna be another Dandenong?

and what crowd averages could we expect to see given their current stadium situation? I’d guess 2-4k if they’re doing bad, 5-6k if they’re doing good, + derbies.

Wyndham is going to explode . It's one of the fastest growing areas in Australia.  That 700k needs to be halfed as most people down the west and geelong are already mv and city fans . 

I think many tend to overestimate the level of support for MV and MC. Some seem to think it’s a locked market, but there are likely also many passive supporters of those clubs, who would be unlikely to attend matches or buy merchandise but loosely align themselves to a club.

Its likely more fitting to state that a portion of the market may not care for the game enough to get involved, and are unlikely to do so, making it far harder to gain traction in that space.

There are still many out there that are not actively supporters of the current HAL clubs but love the game. That’s the type of support that WU are looking at connecting with, so time will tell if it can tap into a big enough part of the market to make it work.

Fan engagement coming right up....

https://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/sport/local-soccer/aleague-club-western-united-to-claim-geelong-as-roadshow-comes-to-town/news-story/17d06f99993cedc43b3f3b8a4718a504

Western United are holding an information night tonight at GHMBA Stadium in regards to the building of the stadium, pre season games etc, should be good.

My apologies ‘Champagne Football’ - just saw your post. 

But yes, it’s on tonight, will be interesting.

They're doing a meet and greet at encore events in hoppers Soonish.  Which is strange since they should be doing it here first before geelong since they gonna be based in Wyndham 

Hahaha horvat calling in mates and family to get kids in the photo shoot

Keep us informed about the meeting

I went along tonight. 

Let’s just say that the updated visual of the stadium looks very impressive, slightly similar to BankWest Stadium’s interior but with more green. They’re also stating it’ll be ready in the club’s third season, and yes, the train station will be built nearby on Sayers Road. 

The club will play 8-9 homes at GMHBA in Geelong and the remainder at Mars Stadium in Ballarat. Personally I’m slightly disappointed they won’t be playing at Morshead but the positive is they’ll be playing home derbies in Geelong and not Marvel (big plus imo). 

NYL team in 2020/2021 and W-League will happen when expansion occurs there next. 

Steve Horvat basically insinuated that the West of Melbourne/Victoria has been severely under utilised for Football and that Western United will be the club that bridges that gap. 

Three remaining spots on the roster may be used on Australians and the club are very proud of having an all Australian backroom staff thus far. 


Rudan wants an attacking and ‘not boring’ style but he also wants structure too, obviously. The way he spoke shows he means business, and I feel he’s definitely the right man for the job. 

All in all, it was a great night and I was genuinely surprised that the room was full as I wasn’t sure what to expect (I’d guess a crowd of 150-200 people). 

Another interesting thing is that the club’s media manager was also the media manager for Western Sydney when they first started up. 

Thanks for the update Etihad, seems like a surprisingly good turnout. Quite surprised that they’re playing the derbies in Geelong. 

Also disappointed that they’re playing out of an oval in Ballarat, think a few were hoping they’d play out of Morshead.

I wonder if they may not have gained permission from the FFA to use Morshead for A-League matches. It really doesn’t make that much sense to use Mars Stadium otherwise, unless the council gave them a very nice deal to do so.

The club has stated a while back that it wanted to play the derbies in Geelong, so good they are sticking to their word on that.

Good to hear that there was a good turnout. Certainly important that they build a solid foundation.

Any pics taken of the stadium renders that are able to be shared?

Friendlies in Ballarat, Geelong and West Melbourne (Caroline Springs) from mid August through to late September.

The stadium will be 15,000 capacity and they’re still saying it will be ready for season 3.

Is future proofed for something like 4-6 thousand extra seats if expansion is necessary.

The stadium will have safe standing for active support and has the steepest stands in the country.

The train station will be 500m away from the ground but won’t be ready until after the stadium is built. 

Flagged car parking and roads as an issue in the early days of the stadium. The road won’t be able to handle the traffics well and parking an issue. The short term solution is to have people park at hubs in surrounding suburbs and run shuttle buses. There will also be temporary sort of gravel parking at the ground. The train station and the construction of a 2,000 vehicle capacity multi story car park near the station are hoped to be long term solutions.

Kardina Park for 8-9 games, Mars Stadium 2-3 games. Left open the possibility of returning to Kardina Park for big games even after the stadium is built but they may have just been trying to appease the room as the meeting was held in Geelong.

Membership prices range from $75 to $600. Match day tickets will be $20. $195 for a full season adult GA membership and $300 for a premium reserved seat. 

Memberships to be available in late July.

There is an an option to pay an extra $95~ to become a foundation member. This will effectively act as a down payment that will be refunded when the stadium built that guarantees you a reserved seat. The logic is that they’ll only have 10,000~ memberships available and if demand is greater than supply they want to give the foundation members first crack at purchasing one.

Kits for sale arrive August 10th. 

Club won’t be using Geelong’s rooms when playing at Kardina Park. Was hinted that the Kardina Park Trust aren’t treating Western United particularly well.

The membership packs will be ‘sustainable’. Recyclable membership cards and shopping bags included. You will also get a cap and a fridge magnet but the packs are a work in process.

A-League team October 2019, Y-League team at November 2020, W-League team at first possible opportunity. Still considering if and what kind of involvement the club would like to have with the NPL.

Will have boys and girls academies from u9s up.

Will wear the home kit for all games home and away unless there is a clash, in which case the alternate strip will be worn.

The kit’s badge is three dimensional on the shirt and made out of a rubber like material. Looks very nice.

Room was full. Maybe 200 in attendance. 

Rudan seemed a bit all over the place. Saying in an answer to one question that his team’s first focus is defence, and to another that attack is the main priority. Seemed to put way less emphasis and play down the idea of him establishing a culture and style that will run through the club’s side, whilst other speakers talked this aspect up.

Club is only planning to sign three more players and these may not necessarily be foreigners.

Thanks for the update.

Seems that a lot was discussed which is good, but based on those comments from Rudan, I tend to think he meant he wants to get the defense right first and then the main priority would be about attacking, just as he showed at Wellington.

The stadium access issues will be interesting to overcome, as one would think that all of that would have to be part of the planning process, with potential red flags for the NIMBY types in the area.

Having to run shuttle buses is not cheap, increasing operating costs for the club. One would hope it doesn’t take too long to get the station built, but it will still depend on adequate services on match days too.

Guess they're lucky that there's currently no NIMBY's in the area, in fact I'm not sure there's anyone there...

Thanks Ark-O. Pretty good signs with the turn out.

would’ve thought parking and such would’ve been sorted out during the planning phase.

Here’s a pic of the rendered stadium from tonight:

 https://scontent.fmel8-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.15752-9/66361403_874569599588036_214928401239113728_n.jpg?_nc_cat=111&_nc_oc=AQl4sE2RY6_wuhfZDAux0c4copbsnRzopvzWOHn4K_8kVVsYWuvJP8_j8zrymYAyrFAWykUe2oPqUdSDMtynSk__&_nc_ht=scontent.fmel8-1.fna&oh=8e1346d4ca195ed37f375a0f5733da39&oe=5DB8B387&dl=1 

PS yes, I came away feeling this club may have better support than we expected, was pretty good for a Monday night in Geelong. 

Fingers crossed anyway, but the night was professionally run overall.

Whilst they may be only playing out of AFL stadiums initially playing out of Ballarat and Geeling will be good for the growth of the game in the long term if they can attain sustainable crowds (~10-15k). I read somewhere that they move some games to Etihad Stadium (possibly finals). The less games they host in Melbourne, the better for the sport in rural (Western) Victoria. 

IMO they should play all games (maybe low-drawing fixtures in places like Ballarat) in Geelong until the stadium is built. I know I've been off the forum for the last few years, but is the stadium actually going ahead? Obvuously it's not going to be ready for some time yet given they're yet to break ground on it...

Also the whole 'sustainable members packs' is a laugh. Nothing but lip service there. 

Well done to them. They seem like they are still on schedule.  It will be good to see a new team next year.

can't wait for geelong away games 

Will both City fans be going, or just you? 

well with a new team in victoria and the novelty of playing another team in an away ground i'd say we will have double the amount of fans attending   

I was just being mean ... slow news day ☹️

it's a slow news day for you because you got a whole week of news at once 

Exactly. Then 100 days to wait until the new season. Sigh ... 

at least we have a league indepence, ffa cup, manchester-leeds tour, friendlies, transfer news and west united to talk about 

Good to see things ticking along. If they get 5-6k members for now that would be solid. The uptick would be when the stadium is built.

The fact the station isn't going to be ready in time will be an issue. You just know these planned shuttle busses will shit the bed and you'll want to get to the ground verrrry early to avoid the rush. It's also going to be a nightmare for Derbies, the idea of 2000+ MV fans all arriving at Tarneit station at the same time and calmly shuffling onto busses is laughable.