Back: Councillor Jim Memeti, committee member Vasfi Huseni, (front)soccer players Adrian Lumanovski, Alex Marnelli and Arsen Memetiua are all keen for a new stadium at the Dandenong Thunder Soccer Club.
By Marc McGowan
DANDENONG Thunder Soccer Club is in the process of designing plans for a new stadium to suit new seating regulations brought in by Football Federation Australia (FFA).
The club is aiming to become a part of the Victorian Premier League (VPL) and the FFA has ruled that teams involved must have a minimum 500-seat venue to be a part of the competition.
While the minimum will be adhered to for the plans, Dandenong Thunder president Penno Husein is unsure of the exact seating for which the club will cater.
“We will see what the council has in mind. It is still up in the air at the moment, there is a budget to stick to,” he said.
City of Greater Dandenong councillor Jim Memeti said the council would provide $160,000 for the proposed stadium, while a further $50,000 will be put into the project by Sport and Recreation Victoria; an initiative of the State Government.
The club will also look to sponsors, fundraising and other donations to get the plan off the ground.
Husein said the club was looking at possibly naming the grandstand after an interested local company.
While the regulations play a major role in the proposition, there are other motives for its induction.
“We have got a lot of teams at the club and we want to look after them and our supporters,” he said.
“It’s a matter of moving forward.”
Cr Memeti echoed these sentiments and highlighted another reason for the construction of the grandstand.
“The club is also looking to build changerooms underneath the grandstand. They’ve never had any girls’ teams before and they want to keep them separate,” he said.
“Like every good mother and father, they don’t want their girls changing in front of the boys.”
It was the club’s intention to compete in the VPL from next season, but that idea has hit a snag.
Husein said money was not really an issue, the playing level was ‘in the dumps’.
The club has made several moves to eradicate this problem, including replacing former coach Stan Webster with reserves coach Toby Paterson.
“He comes from Scotland and has played the highest level over there,” Husein said.
Paterson’s appointment has already seen benefits for the club, with the recruitment of four overseas players – two from Scotland and two from England – all of whom played division one football in their respective countries.
