THE announcement of a date for the Western Sydney Wanderers' A-League Women's game in Bathurst is the culmination of more than a year's lead-up work.
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In a statement on Friday, October 13, Bathurst Regional Council confirmed that the Wanderers will play Canberra United on Saturday, November 18 at Carrington Park.
Council said the match will form "part of the Wanderers' commitment to the Western NSW region and will see the club deliver benefits to the Bathurst community through a range of school and grassroots programs to drive and support football participation".
Budget commitment
Councillors agreed - at an extraordinary meeting held on June 29, 2022 to adopt the council budget for 2022-23 - to put $200,000 towards bringing the Wanderers to Bathurst after a submission made by councillor Ian North.
Councillor North told the Western Advocate the day after the council meeting that he had made initial contact with the Wanderers about three years previously when he was deputy mayor and, though COVID had caused disruptions in recent times, the lines of communication had remained open.
In terms of the $200,000 that council was committing, Cr North said there were millions of dollars in potential economic benefits to be realised if the Wanderers came to the city each year.
Locked in
In May this year, council, during the confidential portion of its ordinary meeting, accepted a proposal to host a Wanderers A-League Women's fixture.
Council's director of corporate services and finance, Aaron Jones, said it will be a one-off game, with no long-term arrangement in place between council and the Wanderers at this time.
"This has been ongoing for some time, working with the Western Sydney Wanderers to get an A-League game here," he said.
"We figured that, with the timing of the women's World Cup, there's an opportunity for us to pursue a women's A-League game."
While council did not detail the amount of money it was spending to get the A-League game to Bathurst, Mr Jones did confirm the cost to transform the ground had been budgeted for within the expenditure.
On the ground
In June this year, Wanderers CEO Scott Hudson visited Bathurst and said the "key thing that's really important is we don't want to just fly in, fly out and be a one day wonder".
"Part of this relationship is also engaging the community throughout the year as well," he said.
"I know we hosted a free football clinic during the school holidays, where the numbers were exhausted in 24 hours. We're also hosting a schools' cup later in June as well.
"We're going to be working with the local clubs and the schools to make sure that football is top of our mind."
While the deal to play a game in Bathurst is for just one year at the moment, Mr Hudson said he wasn't against that deal being extended.
Tickets for the Wanderers' match at Bathurst will go on sale via 123 Tix.
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