HOW THE WEST HAS WON
BUILD it and they will come. The A-League’s first purpose-built stadium, with construction underway 25km from Melbourne’s CBD, will take two years to complete. To get there, Western United fans will flock over the West Gate Bridge, whose shape serves as the team’s logo, and travel from the newly developed Tarneit Train Station, which is in just its fourth year of operation.
“That’s a real divider, the West Gate Bridge,” says Steve Horvat, who is a founder and director at Western United, a former Socceroo in his own right, and a renowned football dealmaker in this country.
“Everywhere west of that is where we feel is going to be our footprint forever and a day. So we feel, with our first two seasons playing in Geelong and Ballarat, it is almost a perfect triangle.”
The A-League shares enthusiasm for this vision, which allowed Horvat, super-agent Lou Sticca and co. to centre the bid around the 15,000-seat stadium (which exists only on blueprints at this point), making the venue a beacon of the region. Until that’s built, WU will play in Geelong, with its home games at GMHBA Stadium, and Ballarat, where they split a few marquee match-ups at Mars Stadium, including against the Western Sydney Wanderers and Melbourne City.
The idea of this travelling circus is
