By Ewen McRae
Melton council will develop a draft strategy to guide the future of soccer in the municipality.
The proposed strategy, introduced as a notice of motion by Cr Steve Abboushi at last week’s meeting, will seek to engage clubs across the region to help discover what is needed to ensure the future success of the sport.
“It’s about properly, and in a strategic way, planning for the future of the world game in a fast growing municipality,” Cr Abboushi said.
“The demands for football or soccer are growing at such a fast rate, that in order to respond to that we need to have a strategic plan about what that means for our community.
“Clubs want to see council being pro-active in planning for the future of the game.
“We want to make sure we’re providing the relevant infrastructure to meet the demand, otherwise it makes it difficult for grass-roots clubs to form and to thrive.”
Among the proposed scope for the strategy will be opportunities for facility development and upgrades, participation and membership trends, access to programs (particularly female access) and identifying the opportunity to develop a multi-pitch regional facility.
It is hoped the strategy will guide decisions about the sport for the next 10 years.
