Soccer summit

SOCCER’S growing popularity has prompted a summit on the sport’s development.
Cardinia Shire Council will hold a public meeting this week to look at proposals for the development of soccer now and into the future.
Council community recreation officer Michael Haley said interest in soccer was growing in the shire — heightened by the performances of the Socceroos and Melbourne Victory.
Yet the area faced a shortage of soccer facilities and had no formal structure for soccer enthusiasts to get involved in the sport, he said.
Mr Haley said the public meeting followed on from previous community consultations, which had established a firm interest in developing this sport in the area.
“Council began investigating options for providing soccer facilities and training programs to assist in raising the profile of this sport in the shire about two years ago,” he said. “Council has been working with the Football Federation Australia (FFA) and the Football Federation Victoria (FFV), schools and local soccer enthusiasts and has drafted a plan, which looks at potential programs and developing clubs in the shire.”
Mr Haley said the plan looked at the development of training programs and skills over the next few years, the development of soccer clubs, and the potential development of facilities in the shire.
He said anyone interested in soccer, on any level, was strongly encouraged to come to the meeting and show their support.
“We’ve had a lot of informal feedback about the need for soccer facilities and have begun a process of pursuing soccer in the shire, so now we hope people will come along and discuss the plans, learn more about opportunities for the development of soccer in Cardinia, give us feedback on what has been done so far, and lend their support to driving this process further,” Mr Haley said.
The public meeting will be held at the Cardinia Cultural Centre, Lakeside Boulevard, Pakenham, on Thursday, 8 March, at 7pm. People wanting to attend the meeting are asked to let the council’s Sustainable Communities Unit know on 5945 0400.