By Nick Creely
Team 11 and the City of Casey recently unveiled fresh concepts of a proposed state-of-the-art training facility at Casey Fields that will come to fruition if the A-League bid is successful.
The facility – which is proposed to be $38.8 million – will be split into two sections, with the $18m community facility to be built regardless of whether Team 11 is granted entry into the A-League and W-League.
The second stage, a $20.8m elite training and administration base, is conditional on the success of the licence bid.
Team 11 confirmed that the City of Casey has applied to the Victorian Government for funding to enable the community facility, which encompasses three synthetic pitches, a turf pitch, a floodlight and an eight-change room pavilion.
An application has also been made to the Australian Government towards the second stage, which will be the future administration and training base for Team 11. This includes a main training pitch, capable of hosting crowds of up to 4000, potentially opening up the possibility of future pre-season, FFA Cup, National Youth League and local club matches.
The shovel-ready Cranbourne East site will begin to take shape later this year, in preparation for the potential kick-off of an A-League club in October 2019.
The additional pitches for community use come at a time when Football Federation Victoria has identified the need to build at least 15 new pitches in the City of Casey by 2026 given the south-east’s population boom.
Casey, one of the fastest-growing councils in the country, already boasts a population in excess of 326,000, with the south-east of Victoria as a whole is home to more than 1.5 million residents.
An announcement will be made on 31 October as to which bids will be granted entry into the A-League and W-League for the 2019/20 season.
