Football Victoria confirmed 2024 Club Development Grants

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Image credit: IOIO IMAGES / Shutterstock.com

Football Victoria has presented the local clubs that have been successful in receiving the 2024 FV Club Development Grants.

This grant program was focused on applicants who wanted to foster a new positive sporting environment at clubs. This grant aims to help with infrastructure development, programs and plans that will enhance Female and community participation and inclusivity.

The application round had a huge amount of clubs eager to engage in the wider goals of upgrading the experience of the sport for all age groups and areas, including a great number of metropolitan and regional clubs.

The Club Development grants are part of the wider “Our Football” Strategic Plan, a re-energised campaign to encourage investment and support of the many grassroots clubs that maintain the largest amounts of participants in football.

For many grassroots clubs, grants are the main source of investment and these programs can completely change the environments at clubs and support the growing numbers of participants.

Below are the clubs that have been successful in the application.

Club
Balmoral FC Korumburra City SC Sandringham SC
Bunyip & District SC Maribyrnong Swifts FC Somerville Eagles SC
Calder United SC Middle Park FC Stawell Pioneers SC
Colac Otway Rovers AFC Morwell Pegasus SC Sunbury United FC
Darebin United SC Nichols Point SC Swan Hill SL
Deakin Ducks FC North Geelong Warriors FC Thornbury Athletic FC
Drysdale SC North Sunshine Eagles FC Truganina Lions SC
FC Birrarung Ocean Grove SC Warrnambool Wolves FC
FC Eaglehawk PEGS SC Whittlesea United SC
Fitzroy Tigers Futsal Club Phillip Island SC Williams Landing FC
Glen Eira FC Preston Lions FC Wodonga Heart FC
Kyneton District SC Rosebud SC

 

For the success of football in Victoria and Australia as a whole, grants such as this are crucial and necessary. Sport always needs investment and for one of Victoria’s most played sports the funding helps build the support for the game.

Not only do these grant-worthy recipients receive the investment needed to continue unlocking the rising potential of future players and Australia’s football culture, this funding will importantly also help maintain the strong sense of community and inclusivity these clubs bring to the average Australian.

The Club Development Grants are a positive step for grassroots sport in Australia and one can hope a success story that can be built upon in the future.

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Melbourne Victory and BYD drive innovation through new major partnership

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Melbourne Victory has officially welcomed BYD as a Major Partner and the Club’s exclusive Motor Vehicle Supplier for the next 12 months. At a partner launch bringing together the two organisations, the focus is on building around innovation, growth and a drive for success. The partnership will place BYD at the centre of Melbourne Victory’s fan experience. The brand will feature on the front of both the A-League men’s and women’s home and away jerseys. This gives BYD a strong presence across matchdays, broadcasts and digital content throughout the season.

The partnership extends well beyond the playing kit. BYD will be integrated across Melbourne Victory’s media, Academy and community assets. The two organisations will also collaborate through Member and pathways programs. This creates opportunities for BYD to connect with Victory supporters across multiple touchpoints.

For BYD, the partnership provides a direct connection with Melbourne Victory’s growing supporter and member base. The automotive brand has built a rapidly expanding presence in Australia and New Zealand. Its partnership with Victory provides another platform to build awareness and engage with Australian consumers. BYD Australia Chief Operating Officer Stephen Collins said the alignment between the two organisations was a key factor behind the deal.

“At BYD we’re enormously excited to welcome the Melbourne Victory into the BYD family as an exclusive automotive partner,” Collins said.

“What really appeals to us was the culture of innovation and the hunger for success.”

That alignment is reflected in the way the partnership will operate. BYD will not simply appear on Melbourne Victory assets. The brand will be connected to the Club’s members, fans, business network, pathways and community programs. Melbourne Victory Managing Director Caroline Carnegie said the partnership reflects a shared ambition for continued growth. She also highlighted the organisations’ common focus on leading, connecting and inspiring their communities. Together, Melbourne Victory and BYD will bring the partnership to life across matchdays, media, community initiatives and supporter experiences throughout the 2026-27 season.

Episode 4: “You could have sold it out twice”: Peter Filopoulos on why unification is the way forward

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PETER FILOPOULOS sees Saturday’s Australia Cup final between Melbourne Victory and South Melbourne Hellas as a ‘unification event’ that must be harnessed as a window to the future – rather than a means of stirring up old division – if Australian football is to progress.

“This game sold out organically, and having run marketing, corporate affairs and communications at Football Australia previously, I don’t think they would have needed to spend one single dollar on marketing,” Filopoulos told Soccerscene Unfiltered.

“You could have probably sold it out twice! This tells me it’s the sort of product the fans want; it’s authentic and taps into the new and the old, and demonstrates culture as a real asset. You couldn’t have scripted it better.

“If I was in a decision-making position at the A-League, I’d be looking very closely at why fans have responded in such an emphatic way.”

Filopoulos has seen it all across his near-35 year career in sports administration, which by his calculation has been split evenly inside the Australian football tent and outside it – but when outside, always with at least one eye glancing back.

Fifteen years across AFL clubs Hawthorn & North Melbourne as that code moved from a financially traumatic 1990s into a wealthier new millennium; five years at Football Australia: ‘easily the most transformative period for Australian football in its history’; stints with Etihad Stadium and even a period ‘completely out of my comfort zone’ at Swimming Australia.

There’s been crisis management, stepping in as Perth Glory CEO after the 2015 salary cap scandal; he’s seen the A-League’s boom times under the Lowys & Fox Sports’ 2018 broadcast deal; he’s enjoyed the euphoria of the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

But all stems back to the National Soccer League and South Melbourne Hellas, and his bold decision to take on the Club’s inaugural general manager position in December 1993, aged just 25.

“I wasn’t ready… but what it taught me is when an opportunity is presented to you, just say ‘yes’ and work out how to do it later. I’ve used this throughout my career, and that was one of those instances where I threw myself in the deep end.

“I had my career mapped out, and was working quite happily in accounting. But I was a passionate fan and having grown up at the old Middle Park, it was a natural ‘yes’ – and I was young enough to take a risk.”

With today’s A-League financially ailing and great clubs of yesteryear enjoying what Filopoulos terms a ‘renaissance’ – and agitating as vociferously for a return to the top flight as at any point since the demise of the NSL – he feels it is again time for bold leadership, and a little risk.

“You can have all the ambition in the world, and in being part of a club, you’re a custodian. But as I’ve always seen it, you need a sustainable commercial model: sound ownership, sound facilities, revenue, etc…

‘But you also need to understand how to tap into that asset of culture. What we’re seeing with the Australia Cup final is a result of culture, right? You need to create it amongst your fans, and know who your fans are, and tell them what you’re striving for. Bring them along on the journey!”

Catch the full chat with Peter Filoupolos on Soccerscene Unfiltered: from ‘eyeballing’ Frank Arok and backing Ange Postecoglou, overcoming resource challenges at Football Victoria, to the rise of the Matildas, and plenty more…

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