Soccer to stay
BY CATHERINE SWEENEY
21 Jan, 2010 12:26 PM
THE new owners of the Latrobe City Sports Stadium in Morwell have declared they will work to restore the sporting ground to its ``former glory'' and explore other ways to use the precinct.
A private consortium made up of Australian Football League legend Glenn Archer and Darren Matthews, who once owned the Traralgon Indoor Sports Centre in the 1990s, has bought the stadium in Crinigan Road after months of negotiations with the previous owner.
``Firstly, we saw an opportunity to put something back into grassroots sport,'' Mr Matthews said.
``It evolved into more of an understanding of the region but also the passion people had for the venue - we didn't realise how much it meant to people.''
Falcons 2000 Soccer Club president Tony Salvatore said the deal was a huge relief after uncertainty surrounded the club's future at the stadium during negotiations of the terms of their lease last year.
``It allows us to focus on the junior and senior teams ... we can put our energy back in to the teams rather than negotiating a place to stay. This gives us the opportunity to plan for next year too, 2011 is our 50 year anniversary,'' Mr Salvatore said.
Mr Matthews said he was happy to have the soccer club as anchor tenants.
``We are going through the process of all the things that need to be upgraded and trying to bring it back to its former glory and then we hope to have further interest from other sporting clubs or from locals who believe they could utilise it,'' he said.
Settlement is due to take place in February.
http://www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au/news/local/news/general/soccer-to-stay/1730836.aspx