Strong support for junior sides

Damen Francis

April 12 2014

Shepparton News

Goulburn Valley Suns are out to establish new home Vibert Reserve as a fortress, when Dandenong Thunder comes to town tomorrow.

The Suns’ junior teams were expected to host visiting teams at McEwen Reserve — where the club’s senior teams play — but have agreed to play elsewhere in the interest of preserving Shepparton’s most in-demand soccer facility as long as possible.

The junior teams are already training at Congupna’s Memorial Oval, while the senior teams have also moved training elsewhere.

Suns junior technical director Pat Kielty said Vibert Reserve was a suitable venue and the club was looking forward to hosting its first round of junior home games, having kicked-off the season on the road last weekend.

‘‘Until the new precinct is built, (Vibert) is where we’re going to be for the foreseeable future,’’ Kielty said. ‘‘The players are all pumped for it.’’

Any illusions rival clubs may have had about the Suns being the competition easy-beats this season were dispelled last weekend against Dandenong City.

While numbers remain an issue at some levels, the Suns were plenty competitive — aside from the under-16 team, which lost 10-0 — and could surprise a few more teams as the season wears on.

‘‘We won three and lost three, but in reality we should have won five and lost one,’’ Kielty said.

‘‘A lot of teams thought we were going to be whipping boys, but after last week’s results we’ve proved we can hold our own if we have the right kids on board.

‘‘We managed to get all the teams out there. We had to shuffle some kids around and we’re still looking for kids in the 15s and 16s age group.

‘‘If they were to come on board, I am pretty positive my 16s would be fully competitive.’’

Kielty said every Goulburn North East Football Association club was represented at the Suns and he made special mention of Kyabram Phoenix president Simon Fiske for providing players and Cobram and Cobram Victory for supplying players at the last minute last weekend.

Several of the Suns’ senior players have coaching roles among the junior teams and Kielty said made a big difference to the kids having their support — as coaches or spectators.

‘‘The kids love it,’’ he said.

‘‘One kid said to me last week at training he was playing with Billy Wright and Josh Glover and he couldn’t believe he was playing with an ex-New Zealand international and an ex-England (under-18 schoolboys) player. It just doesn’t happen here.’’

Senior Suns adviser Melvyn Wilkes said the support the junior teams had last week stunned the host club.

‘‘The amount of support we’ve had from the parents as well. We had more parents down at their place than they did,’’ Wilkes said.

‘‘It shows the support the club has already.’’