Ahead of Western United’s first Isuzu UTE A-League match at their new home in Tarneit, John Aloisi and Daniel Penha explain to aleagues.com.au exactly why this moment is so special.
Seated in a room overlooking the pitch in Tarneit, John Aloisi points out to where Western United’s future 15,000-capacity stadium will be located.
There is no hiding the excitement on his face or in his voice. On Saturday afternoon, the club will play its first Isuzu UTE A-League match at the Regional Football Facility.
It’s a “game-changer” for Australian football.
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“I can see the vision and this is one of the reasons why, when they asked me to come here, they were so excited,” Aloisi told aleagues.com.au. “You see that virtually in this area, there’s going to be nothing else but this sporting precinct.
“From here, the stadium is going to be just there (Aloisi points). Then the academy, the kids are training here and they’re looking at that stadium and going ‘one day I want to play out of that’.
“It’s a game changer for Australian football in general. There’s going to be a club who owns their own stadium.”
Saturday’s visit of Macarthur FC represents a long-awaited homecoming for Aloisi’s side, more than five years after Western United received their A-Leagues license.
The Liberty A-League team and NPL Academy outfit have already experienced their Tarneit surrounds off Leakes Road in the west of Melbourne.
“It will be huge, not only for the playing group, but the whole area,” said Aloisi. “We’ve been talking that we represent the people of the west but now we’re finally here. People are going to know where our home is and this is where we’re going to play every week. Lets make it into a spectacle, on and off the field.
“Even though we’ve had so many supporters try to follow us around everywhere, we haven’t had a home that we can create into a fortress. What I mean by that is when we were having close games, whether it was in Ballarat, Tasmania, Geelong… because of the way the stadiums are that they’re not on top of you like a football stadium, if we get 3-4k people here, eventually 5k, that can help you get over the line. Really drive you and help you find energy so the players can get a lift.
“From a moment, from a shot on goal or a keeper making a save. We haven’t had that. To achieve what we’ve already achieved, winning the competition, we did that without having that energy or home. I’m really looking forward to this.
“I know it will be only three games here for the rest of the season, but this will set us up for seasons to come.”
Aloisi has just wrapped up his pre-game press conference and is already looking ahead to analysis session, but the Socceroos legend is able to sit back and reflect on a journey. Not only for the club, but his own to get to this unique position.
“When I first came back to (Australia), Central Coast were training virtually at a public park but that was the start of the A-League so wat a bit like that everywhere,” he recalled. “When I was at Sydney, we were training out of the university.
“Then when I was coaching at Melbourne Heart (now Melbourne City), we were changing training fields all the time. I think in one season we used seven different training grounds.
“It is the first time you feel like this is getting like Europe. Even just seeing the nets behind the goals.
“At Brisbane, we also trained at times at Ballymore, at times at a university, at times at school. When we were at Ballymore, there were rugby goals in the background.
“When we were at the Hangar (the home of AFL club Essendon in Tullamarine) and even though we were grateful that we were there, we had the AFL goals in the background. It doesn’t feel like you’re a footballer. Whereas now, it feels like we’re footballers.”
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It’s the little things for Aloisi and Western United.
“I was out here while they were building, and looked around at how things might work,” he said. “But when I really got a buzz was watching the women’s team play. The first game they played and seeing a couple of thousand people there. Seeing them all cheering and the noise they created when we scored. It was only a couple of thousand but it created a noise.
“Every day you’re walking in and seeing Western United in the change room, in the gym, green and black on the seats. You feel part of it. We haven’t had this. This has been one of the biggest reasons I came to Western United because we always knew we were going to have our own facility.”
Since their inception in 2019, Western have played at a myriad of home venues as they have awaited construction of their promised venue.
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The A-League Men’s team has hosted matches at Geelong’s GMHBA Stadium, Ballarat’s Mars Stadium and Morshead Park, AAMI Park in Melbourne’s CBD, Whitten Oval in Footscray and matches in Tasmania, both Launceston and Hobart.
“It’s been really challenging. I won’t lie, now we can talk about it a bit more openly because we’re not doing that anymore,” Aloisi said candidly.
“The first season that we won it (the 2021-22 Championship), people didn’t realise that the majority of our home games, especially at the start of the season, were at AAMI Park. We got off to a really good start and then when we had to travel to Ballarat and Tasmania, we were already in the top two or three. It was a different start to the season.
“Whereas this season, out of the first eight games, only one match was at AAMI Park and it was a Melbourne City home game and we won (2-1). We’ve been on the road a lot. I know Ballarat was sort of our home game, but we had to drive there whereas the opposition stayed there overnight. We were playing on a level playing field. We don’t really know the stadium back to front like we’re going to get to know this or AAMI Park.
“We’re going to know the way the wind blows, which blade of grass is longer than the other because it’s our home.”
There is also another key, and maybe understated, aspect to all of this for Western United.
For the first time ever, their men, women and academy teams are all housed within the same venue.
It’s priceless – as Aloisi explained.
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“Normally we work from the morning to the evening. When I’m leaving around 5-6, I can stay and watch the academy train,” he said. “That for me makes a big difference. Not only for me but those players seeing the head coach come past to watch. We haven’t had the chance to do that.
“Even now with the women here, we’ll watch training, I’ll chat with Kat (Smith), the other coaches and the players. You feel part of it. So now when you’re watching them play, you feel part of it because you’ve seen what they’ve been trying to do that at change.
“It’s one club all together. It’s special.”
The looming landmark moment for the Isuzu UTE A-League has given everyone involved a lift in the midst of a season that has not gone according to plan.
Western United find themselves at the foot of the table, but Aloisi said: “The club seem really tight. If you can do that when you’re not winning, that’s going to hold the club in good stead because when they win, it’s easy to say we have a good culture. Of course when you’re winning, everyone has a good culture.
“I look at it a bit similar to the Mariners. They went through a period where they didn’t win for a long period but they went okay, we have to stand for something. All of a sudden, results are coming – players and coaches are coming and going, but they stand for something. That’s why they’re able to sustain that. That’s what this club are trying to do.
“People are going to write it off. People are going to say why isn’t the main stadium built? It’s coming. People didn’t think we’d have this, it’s here. It takes time. I know they would’ve love to have this five years ago. I would’ve loved to have played here two years ago. But we’re here and have to make the most of it.”
This weekend is a massive moment, but what does it mean for the players?
Sat down on a table outdoors in the grandstand area, Western United’s Brazilian star Daniel Penha explained to aleagues.com.au: “You wait all year for holidays and when you go holidays and in these days, you’re thinking that you miss your bed and house.
“Then when you arrive at home, you’re like oh, I’m in my home. I can do what I want, I know everything here.
“You can see here, every single face, everyone’s happy. Everything is new, the pitch is new for us too. We are feeling better now and very happy to have a home.”
“You feel more professional. It’s not every single club in the A-Leagues have this new facility,” he added. “It’s yours. This feeling is like oh my god, this is mine. I can use everything.”
“It’s very special to me. When I came here, they showed me this and what they want to do with the stadium and facility.
“It’s different in South America because everyone has their facilities. At Atletico Mineiro, they maybe have 10 pitches for men’s, women’s, kids. Three gyms etc.
“Here you feel like you’re in Brazil, in a big club. It’s just growing. Hopefully in the next few years, it will be even better.
“In five years, I can look back and say I was part of this.”
