NEWS: Record participation growth rate set to continue in 2016
SOME call it soccer, others call it football. Whatever its name, maybe our great sport should be referred to as ‘BOOM BALL’ - because the ‘world game’ is set for a massive explosion in the growth of numbers playing the game in the wider Geelong region next year!
Football participation levels in Geelong have broken all records in 2015 with an increase of almost 17% in overall player registrations over the past 12 months.
That figure is by far the biggest comparative growth rate in Australia. Yet the amazing growth of people taking up the sport is certainly not done there.
On the back of the recent announcement by the FFV that Galaxy United has been granted a licence in the inaugural WNPL next year - thereby providing a pathway for all talented junior girls in the greater Geelong area - the numbers of individuals playing football in Geelong is set to soar to unprecedented levels in 2016.
For the first time ever, more than 4,000 registered football players are set to play the game on pitches throughout the Greater Geelong region – eclipsing the impressive 2015 record of 3,372 players.
Should this happen, a growth rate of just on 20% will have been recorded come this time next year!
For the first time ever, a Men’s Over 35s Masters’ league is proposed to take off next year, while the number of females playing the sport is set for a major boost with a structural alteration to Girls’ junior competitions which will also include a proposal to return to a two division format for the Women’s competition.
The massive growth achieved in the Mini Roos sub-junior sector (Under 7s-11s) is expected to continue throughout the region, with a unified regional Under 11 competition also set to take off.
Added to that, a two division system is proposed for at least two of the junior Boys’ categories, with the Under 13s and possibly U15s likely to get two divisions.
PHOTO: All ages, genders, shapes and sizes play our wonderful game in Geelong. It's one of the reasons why football is growing at such an extraordinary rate (Photo: Jess Fletcher)
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