Football on the rise in Victoria

[post_hoc]

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/leader/nort ... 58e986e2b6

THE world game is fast becoming the game of choice in many suburbs across Melbourne.

Football Federation Victoria figures show soccer participation rates are booming across the state, with more than 66,000 players registered this year.

That represents a 21 per cent increase from 2014, with the growth of junior and women’s soccer largely behind the surge.

Last year, 259,809 Victorians played AFL football, up two per cent from the previous year.

But it is the rapid growth of soccer in recent years which has FFV most excited.

“The message is clear — football is popular and growing rapidly, playing football is a great experience and playing football is fun,” FFV president Kimon Taliadoros said.

There was an 11 per cent increase in the number of female soccer players registered in Victoria this year, with the MiniRoos boys and girls programs skyrocketing in popularity over the past two seasons.

Introduced in 2015, the MiniRoos program is designed for children aged four to 11 and focuses on game-based activities.

Taliadoros said the work of clubs and volunteers in growing the game could not be underestimated.

“It is our clubs who are creating that presence in schools, in local communities and in online spaces to let as many Victorians as possible know that they can easily access playing football,” he said.


Craigieburn City has been one of the FFV’s success stories over the past three years.
The growing club expanded its membership base by about 80 players this year and introduced a men’s State League side for the first time.

President Paul Dugo said Craigieburn City was proud of how far it had come in recent years.

“Our first year was very hard, people didn’t even know we existed,” Dugo said.

“We’d have other clubs play us that didn’t even know we existed.

“It’s only our third year that we’ve been operating.”

Promoting the club in local schools and growing its presence on social media have been two key initiatives behind Craigieburn City’s emergence.

The club has over 1200 likes on its Facebook page, where it regularly updates members on news, results and events.

“I went out to schools, I did some programs with girls in schools,” Dugo said.

“We do a lot of social media type of stuff that has really helped us.

“We put real estate boards up in the community.

“Last year, one of the community things in Craigieburn we had a stall.

“It’s been a lot of hard work, it’s not just people walking through the door.”

Craigieburn is focused on sustaining its growth and ensuring its solid foundations lead to a successful future.

Dugo said about 70 players had already registered expressions of interest with the club for next year.

“I can say 50 per cent of them are new people,” he said.

“I’m expecting to grow again next year, I just have to work out how we are going to go about (that).”

More than 11,000 new players have joined Victorian soccer clubs since 2014.

In a competitive landscape, the sport has managed to capture the interest of women and children, with more than 12,000 female players registered this year.

[leagueiscrap]

Soccer has always had a large junior participation rate in Victoria but it quickly dies off in the mid teenage years.


It's funny how people will take up and have a go at playing soccer, but league struggles to get people

[AFLcrap1]

What the fuck has this got to do with RL?

[leagueiscrap]

What the fuck has this got to do with RL?

Just pointing out the facts spazza!

BTW you can have a rant about the AFL in the police raids thread but then question me when I laugh at the lack of people playing league in Victoria

Like usual your a fucken hypercrite always contradicting your self!

[AFLcrap1]

Lol
So your deflecting from the topic .
Vic is an AFL state yet soccer is rising .

So what do you do .
Rant about another sport

Predictable as your butchering of the English language

[Fred]

Soccer has always had a following and it is good to see it grow. Hopefully above percent of population growth but the a leauge has been good for soccer. And putting it in summer has also been wise.

[Beaussie]

Gee you'd hope things were on the rise for soccer in Victoria considering the downward spiral in NSW. 11k for Newcastle vs Sydney FC last night and a paltry 12k for the Wanderers. lol

The 60k+ at the local derby a few weeks back were clearly there for the ANZ Stadium novelty factor alone.

Oh and lets not even mention the abysmal tv ratings for soccer nationwide.

[AFLcrap1]

Gallop does it every year .
Load the beginning of the season with the big Derbys .
Then the Sokka crowd start with their chest beating .
Doesn't last long
Reality sets in after a few weeks
Suicide watch begins when the BBL starts .

Participation will always be high .
Simple fairly safe sport to get kids into .

[Beaussie]

Gallop does it every year .
Load the beginning of the season with the big Derbys .
Then the Sokka crowd start with their chest beating .
Doesn't last long
Reality sets in after a few weeks
Suicide watch begins when the BBL starts.

True dat.

[leagueiscrap]

Lol
So your deflecting from the topic .
Vic is an AFL state yet soccer is rising .

So what do you do .
Rant about another sport

Predictable as your butchering of the English language

Just point out your hypocrisy & how you always contradict your self and the reality of leagues failure.


Every year at the start of the a league season we hear the soccer fan boys trying to pump up the game.mid season the majority of the have well and truly left the bandwagon

[post_hoc]

Soccer has always had a large junior participation rate in Victoria but it quickly dies off in the mid teenage years.


It's funny how people will take up and have a go at playing soccer, but league struggles to get people

Actually you are wrong on the giving up in teen years bit. I have shown this before swans said something like that I provided evidence and to his credit he came back an said something along the lines of I stand corrected. I was amazed as I had never seen someone say that on this site.

Clearly you didn't take note.

[post_hoc]

Gallop does it every year .
Load the beginning of the season with the big Derbys .
Then the Sokka crowd start with their chest beating .
Doesn't last long
Reality sets in after a few weeks
Suicide watch begins when the BBL starts .

Participation will always be high .
Simple fairly safe sport to get kids into .

In a 10 team comp, of course 'big games' are going to be early in the year it's just a matter of course all 10 teams play each other 3 times. the likelihood that a big game is going to be in the first few weeks is right up there.

[leagueiscrap]

Soccer has always had a large junior participation rate in Victoria but it quickly dies off in the mid teenage years.


It's funny how people will take up and have a go at playing soccer, but league struggles to get people

Actually you are wrong on the giving up in teen years bit. I have shown this before swans said something like that I provided evidence and to his credit he came back an said something along the lines of I stand corrected. I was amazed as I had never seen someone say that on this site.

Clearly you didn't take note.

There was some stats around from the abs? That showed this I'll have to find them but it did show that from he years of around 16 & 17 the numbers did fall away

[post_hoc]

Soccer has always had a large junior participation rate in Victoria but it quickly dies off in the mid teenage years.


It's funny how people will take up and have a go at playing soccer, but league struggles to get people

Actually you are wrong on the giving up in teen years bit. I have shown this before swans said something like that I provided evidence and to his credit he came back an said something along the lines of I stand corrected. I was amazed as I had never seen someone say that on this site.

Clearly you didn't take note.

There was some stats around from the abs? That showed this I'll have to find them but it did show that from he years of around 16 & 17 the numbers did fall away

Shock horror, less older teens playing sport, stop the press. You will actually find that ALL sports see a drop off in that age group.

[AFLcrap1]

Yep teenagers find partying ,girls,alcohol etc . So suddenly sport is way down the list of priorities