Preston Lions FC: A sleeping giant is awoken with new $3 million grant

With one of Australia’s most passionate fanbases and a history of on-field success, it seems inconceivable that less than a decade ago the Preston Lions FC was on the brink of financial collapse. But despite its recent struggles, a resilient leadership team has led the club out of darkness and towards a bright new dawn.

Following a triumphant 2019 season which ended in promotion, the crowning jewel in Preston’s redemptive arc is the announcement of a new $3 million government grant to redevelop its facilities – meaning the club will finally have the infrastructure to match its lofty ambitions.

“The club recognised that we operate in a competitive environment and we needed to significantly improve the state of our facilities if we were going to attract and retain players, coaches, sponsors, members, and families,” said Zak Gruevski, Preston Lions FC President.

“Furthermore, we need to continue to improve our facilities if we are to meet our ambitious plans of playing at the highest level of NPL in Victoria, and possibly in the National Second Division.”

The funding marks a dramatic turnaround for the club. Struggles on-the-pitch saw Preston relegated twice, in 2009 and 2011, and things were no better off-field, with crippling debt almost forcing the Lions into bankruptcy in 2012.

But just a few short years later fortunes had changed again, and this time for the better. Thanks to the dedication of the Debt Demolition Fundraising Sub Committee, fundraising efforts managed to eradicate the debt in 2014, giving the club a new platform of hope and financial stability.

Gruevski, a life-long supporter of the Lions, was elected President in 2015 and has already overseen drastic improvements to the club’s stature and home ground, B.T. Connor Reserve in Melbourne’s north.

“At the time I was elected, our objective was to build a strong and united team of professional and passionate people to create a sustainable future for the club,” Gruevski said.

The club’s main grandstand at B.T. Connor Reserve

“Prior to 2015, the club’s facilities were extremely run down and not fit for purpose but thanks to the dedication of our passionate people including the committee, supporters, and sponsors, the club has been able to emerge from a difficult period to deliver significant improvements.”

Although recent investments have already enhanced the state of Preston’s stadia, the new redevelopments will take the facilities to an entirely new level.

Work is expected to commence in early 2021 and be completed towards the end of the year. Among a raft of improvements, the Lions’ new pavilion will include the following features:

  • A purpose built social area with state-of-the-art kitchen and bar facilities to accommodate up to 220 seated guests
  • Full access viewings onto the main playing pitch with floor to ceiling glass doors and windows
  • External undercover seating for up to 200 patrons
  • Six purpose-built change rooms, with associated medical facilities to accommodate players, medical staff, and officials
  • Media/meeting room facilities with access to high-quality audio-visual amenities including a 6 x 3 metre electronic scoreboard (funded by club sponsors), audio visual (AV) projection facilities, as well as AV throughout the ground
  • Canteen and restroom facilities for patrons (including those with disabilities) accessible external and internal to the pavilion

According to Gruevski, the facilities will create enormous benefits for those at the club, but also people in the wider local community.

“The new pavilion will provide state of the art facilities where the entire Preston family and other visitors can enjoy café, restaurant, and bar facilities in a fully enclosed environment whilst still being able to watch unobstructed. The facility will prove particularly popular for parents and visitors during the week on training nights, particularly in Winter.” Gruevski said.

“In addition, it will provide the club significant revenue opportunities before and after games to accommodate patrons as well as the potential for use on weekends for functions and events.”

The announcement comes during a time where debate has raged around the state of Australia’s footballing infrastructure. A victim of chronic underinvestment, the issue has drawn commentary from some of the game’s leading figures and has been exacerbated by a strong rise in participation rates, causing a strain on grassroots facilities nationwide.

But despite the negative sentiment surrounding Australia’s football amenities, the path forward will be paved by cooperation and goodwill between clubs, administrators, and government, and the Lions have set a positive example in how this can be achieved.

“The club has adopted a partnership model working closely with the City of Darebin to develop a football precinct that the club and the community can be proud of and enjoy for many years to come,” Gruevski stated.

“Whilst the club has contributed to a number of the infrastructure projects at B.T. Connor Reserve, the majority of the funding has come from council. The club has provided the ‘justification’ to council for investment in facilities which had previously been neglected for many years.”

A digital render of the refurbished pavilion.

Prior to the season’s cancellation due to COVID-19, Preston was preparing to compete in Victoria’s NPL 3 in 2020.  It was set to be the club’s first venture back into the NPL system since suffering relegations in 2009 and 2011.

The recent promotion back to the NPL and upcoming redevelopment signal an exciting new era for the Preston Lions FC. The club’s approximate 350 players – and much wider community – have good reason to rejoice, for the facilities-upgrade represents far more than just tangible benefits it will provide.

The state-of-the-art complex signifies that the proud club, which once competed for 13 years at Australia’s top level (the now defunct National Soccer League), is once again a force-to-be-reckoned-with in Australia’s highly competitive domestic sports landscape.

“With significant improvements in facilities and the implementation of quality football programs for our men’s, women’s and junior teams, we aim to attract and retain quality footballers and their families who want to be part of the next phase of the club’s journey to competing at the highest level of competition possible,” Gruevski said.

“The sleeping giant that has awoken is now in a strong position to leverage its wonderful history to create a bright and successful future.”

Previous ArticleNext Article

A Structural Fix or Stoppage? Will FQ’s New Referee Pipeline Solve its Shortage?

Avatar
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football Queensland‘s newly launched club referee framework is being presented as a game-changing solution to one of the most persistent operational problems in grassroots football: the chronic shortage of match officials. Will democratising and lowering the bar for entry saturate the gap, or exacerbate a skills shortage?

What the framework actually does

The core of the announcement is a free, 30-minute online module that certifies players or club members as club referees, creating a new category of match official below the formal FQ referee pathway. The stated goal is a 1 referee per team ratio within clubs, with these club-level officials intended to fill the gap at the grassroots end while the formal pathway continues operating above them.

Referee shortages at community level are not primarily caused by a lack of interest in officiating at the elite end. They are caused by the structural reality that organising and staffing fixtures for hundreds of junior and community matches each weekend requires a volume of officials that a centralised recruitment and accreditation model simply cannot generate fast enough. A club-embedded approach that lowers the barrier to entry addresses that supply problem at the point where it actually exists.

The framework’s strongest element is its acknowledgment that referee development is not a single pipeline but a layered ecosystem. By creating a supported entry point within clubs, the program recognises that people are more likely to begin something when the initial ask is modest and the environment is familiar.

The 30-minute online module removes cost and time as barriers, which are consistently among the most cited reasons people do not take up officiating. The integration with FQ’s broader resources and the explicit framing of club officiating as a stepping stone into the formal pathway is also structurally intelligent. A club referee who develops confidence and competence at the grassroots level is a more likely candidate for formal accreditation than someone approached cold by a recruiting drive.

Where the questions remain

The framework’s weaknesses are largely the weaknesses of any supply-side solution to what is partly a demand-side problem. Referee shortages exist not only because there are not enough officials but because the experience of refereeing is sufficiently unpleasant that retention rates are poor. Verbal abuse, sideline behaviour from parents and coaches, and the lack of adequate support structures mean that many referees who enter the system do not stay in it.

A 30-minute module and a club-based support structure does not directly address those conditions. If a newly certified club referee’s first experiences on the pitch involve the same patterns of behaviour that drive experienced officials out of the game, the framework risks building a pipeline that feeds into an environment that consumes referees rather than retaining them. Football Queensland’s existing Protect Our Game initiative and Three Strike Policy are relevant here, but the announcement makes no explicit connection between the new referee framework and the behavioural standards clubs will be expected to maintain around their own officials.

There is also a question of quality consistency. A 30-minute online certification, by design, provides a basic level of preparation. At the youngest junior levels, where match outcomes are secondary to development, that may be entirely adequate. But the framework’s success will depend on clubs implementing the structured learning and support it promises in practice, not just in principle. Clubs vary enormously in their administrative capacity, volunteer bandwidth and culture. A framework that works well in a well-resourced metropolitan club may deliver inconsistent results in a smaller regional association operating with a single administrator.

The broader structural implication

Perhaps the most significant question the framework raises is whether it represents a genuine investment in the referee pathway or a pressure valve designed to relieve immediate operational strain without addressing underlying conditions.

If the club referee model is understood as the entry ramp to a properly resourced and well-supported development pathway, it is genuinely valuable. Football Queensland’s 10-point referee plan, of which this forms one element, suggests the intent is systemic rather than cosmetic. The investment in Alex King as Head of Advanced Match Officials, the all-female referee courses and the appointment of Casey Reibelt as Australia’s first full-time female referee all point to an organisation that is thinking seriously about the full arc of official development.

But frameworks announced with language like “game-changing” and “record investment” carry an expectation of accountability that should be tracked. The meaningful measure of this initiative is not how many club referees are certified in its first season but how many are still officiating two and three seasons from now, and how many progress into the formal FQ pathway.

A referee pipeline is only as useful as its retention rate. That number will tell the real story.

What does the Football Victoria’s Annual Report mean for Victorian Football?

Avatar
Image Credit: Football Victoria

Football Victoria has released its 2025 Annual Report and held its Annual General Meeting at the Home of the Matildas at La Trobe University, presenting a picture of a governing body managing rapid growth while laying the administrative foundations it says will be required to sustain it.

Total participation across all formats reached 96,095 in 2025, a 14 percent overall increase, with women and girls players across outdoor, futsal and social formats reaching 30,928. MiniRoos participation climbed to 39,827, volunteer numbers grew 7.4 percent and female volunteer participation increased 40 percent. Across community competitions, 47,481 fixtures were delivered across 5,016 team entries.

The numbers reflect the sustained momentum of women’s football in particular, a growth curve that has accelerated sharply since the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and continued through the AFC Women’s Asian Cup held in Australia earlier this year. Football Victoria’s report documents that trajectory in participation data but also in the decisions being made about governance, infrastructure and who is shaping the sport’s direction.

Who is shaping the game

The AGM saw the re-election of Elenna Niteros to the Football Victoria board, having first been elected at the 2024 AGM. Niteros, a long-time player and volunteer, is described by the organisation as dedicated to ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion and the growth of women’s football are central to board decisions. The election also returned Peter Filopoulos, an experienced football executive with more than two decades across club, state, national and international organisations. Steve Forbes was subsequently appointed as a director to continue overseeing the organisation’s digital and systems priorities.

The composition of the board matters in ways that extend beyond individual appointments. Football Victoria operates under a 40:40:20 constitutional requirement for gender balance, and the report documents that 94 percent of clubs met that criterion in 2025. That figure, alongside the 100 percent of clubs meeting diversity and inclusion criteria, represents the most structurally significant governance data in the report. The decisions that shape who gets to play, where facilities are built, how budgets are allocated and which programs receive investment are made by the people in those rooms.

Chair Dr Angela Williams, in her first full year in the role, acknowledged the broader environment in which the sport is operating, noting that 2025 had not been easy for everyone and naming violence motivated by race, religion, gender and politics as unacceptable. Her statement that football would play its role in providing peace, belonging and kindness was framed not as aspiration but as responsibility.

Life membership and legacy

The evening included the formal welcome of Life Members from regional associations transitioning into Football Victoria’s statewide structure, alongside the announcement of two new Life Members: Eugene Brazzale, a legendary referee and mentor, and Maggie Koumi, recognised as a trailblazing female administrator.

The In Memoriam section of the annual report carries its own weight. Betty Hoar and Maria Berry AM, both described as foundational pioneers of the women’s game, were among five Life Members farewelled in 2025. Berry’s four-decade legacy included advocacy that tore down systemic barriers for women in sport. Hoar was an inaugural Hall of Fame inductee. The document also recorded the tragic passing of Heidelberg United NPLW striker Keely Lockhart, described by her club as a legend and an angel, known for her kindness toward younger players and her impact on the women’s game in Victoria.

Infrastructure and the years ahead

CEO Dan Birrell framed the year as one defined by progress, describing growth not as a statistic but as a signal that football matters to more people than ever and that communities believe in what is being built. The language is carefully chosen. Progress implies direction, and Football Victoria’s advocacy for infrastructure investment is the clearest indication of where that direction leads.

The Level the Playing Field campaign and the Parliamentary Friends of Football group both received mention in the CEO’s report as central to the organisation’s relationship with government. The recent Victorian State Budget delivered $750,000 to Avondale FC and Hume City FC for facility upgrades, and Football Victoria has indicated further budget announcements are forthcoming. The connection between booming participation and facility access, as Birrell noted, remains central to the organisation’s work with government and partners.

The practical implications of that work are not abstract. Facilities without adequate lighting cannot host evening training. Grounds without gender-inclusive changerooms communicate, without saying a word, who the sport was built for. The $343 million grassroots infrastructure fund Football Australia and Football NSW have sought from the NSW Government reflects the scale of the problem nationally. Victoria faces the same challenge, and the governing body’s political advocacy exists precisely because participation growth without infrastructure investment produces a sport that is larger but not meaningfully better.

With 96,000 participants and a board mandated to reflect the diversity of the community it serves, Football Victoria is in a stronger position than it has been. Whether the infrastructure and investment follow is the question the next decade will answer.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend