While the “wrong” team won, it didn’t dampen the spirits of hundreds of people who flocked to the Barnstoneworth United Junior Football Club in Williamstown to watch Australia in its opening FIFA World Cup match last Saturday.
Barnstoneworth president Dave Pettet said there was almost as much excitement in “downtown Hobsons Bay as in Rio” as people watched Chile beat the Socceroos 3-1 in Brazil, on a big screen set up at the club. “We just had a ball. We had most of our 400 kids there and we had good fun … lots of cheering and singing.”
The event brought together three tiers of government, boosting Barnstoneworth’s hopes of fast-tracking the implementation of its master plan for J T Gray Reserve.
“We are on a shared reserve – it’s a large reserve but it’s unirrigated,” Pettet said.
“We share with two cricket teams and the master plan is to support two things: firstly, the irrigation and development of the ground because obviously without the playing surface we can’t play football; and the second is the clubhouse and changing and toilet facilities.”
The club has only one female cubicle to accommodate five girls’ teams and weekend crowds of 1500 spectators. Pettet said the club, which sponsors programs for children with a disability and from Burma’s Karen community, had players from backgrounds including Asia, Europe, South America and the Middle East.
“This makes for lots of different professional club kits at training and while all will be supporting the Socceroos many have a small allegiance to other nations,” Pettet said.
He said World Cup fever was expected to result in an influx of children wanting to play soccer. “Continued growth looks inevitable and the facilities and ground won’t cope unless serious short-term funding is made available.”
