“This meeting is 8 years too late” states former Socceroo Ray Richards to loud applause.

And so it begins.

Two weeks ago the FFA announced that finally a team based in Sydney’s west will be competing in the 2012-2013 A-League season. Since then there have already been two community engagement fan forums with three more on the agenda over the next week.

All this is known and public knowledge. What isn’t publicly known is how these forums have played out.

What has come out of the first two forums is that those that live in the Sydney’s west are damn proud of it. Wherever people have come from, they now call the west home and are not shy about it. One constant theme has been a sense of pride and ownership of the area. There are calls for the club to truly represent the area, both in the coaching ranks and the playing roster. This club can truly be a team for the people, by the people. The Rocky Balboa of the A-League so to speak.

A rather mind boggling statistic was raised that 200 odd Socceroos from the 400 or so in total hailed from Western Sydney. That is a staggering amount. Everyone is well aware of the goldmine of talent in the Western Sydney area so there is a consensus that we need not look far for those to wear the shirt and represent the club.

It was mentioned at one of the forums that the people out west are very football intelligent people. Football is in their blood. There have been lovers of the game for generations. We aren’t creating a club from nothing like other sports have done so. The fans are already here. They just need a professional club in the A-League to represent them. They will know garbage when they see it, so this club has to be built right, otherwise the region will potentially be lost forever.

One thing that must be said. Finally the FFA are starting to “get it”. Instead of getting some rich mining magnate to fund the team as a plaything and a political maneuvering tool, they are engaging the community and the fans who will prop the club up in the stands and potentially on the books in the future. The FFA acknowledged themselves that this time they are building from the ground up, with the community involved from day one, instead of from the top down. It is yet to be seen how far the suggestions made at these forums will go and how much of it will be taken on board by the FFA, but the initial signs are positive.

Another positive sign is the acknowledgment of the old NSL clubs and the NSWPL clubs. The FFA met with more than a handful of these clubs the day before the first forum to get their input on what they would like to see from the new club and how both entities can co-exist in a mutually beneficial way moving into the future. The FFA are finally realising that wiping the slate clean in 2005 was not the smartest of ideas and acknowledging the pioneers of football and their contributions to the sport are imperative to rebuilding those bridges that were burned almost a decade ago. This should have been done years ago, but better late than never and it’s a good sign that these clubs are not being completely ignored this time around.

I won’t go into details about the discussions on colours, logos, names or if west(ern) should be included. I don’t want to influence the upcoming forums with what is currently popular and where the fans are leaning towards. At the end of the day, most of these decisions are moot because as Mark Bosnich stated “who cares what the name or colours end up being, we should be supporting this team no matter what because it will be our team” (or words to that effect).

What has been unanimous though has been a distinct “No” to ANZ. Everyone would rather the big games and derbies be played at a full house Parramatta stadium rather than a three-quarter empty ANZ.

Another major point that has been raised is community engagement. There have been some strong views put forward on the lack of visibility of football players attending schools and getting their team’s name on the lips and minds of the kids out there. We are under no illusion that we are in the process of building something for our children. If the schools have regular visits from the well known players, the kids will fall in love with the team and feel a part of it. Other sports do this well but it is something that football in this country (at least in this city) has failed to do successfully.

Following on from that point is the hope that the club can be a beacon of hope and a pathway for those that cannot afford to pay the $3000 or so registration fees to play in the elite competitions. It was touched upon multiple times on the vast amount of talent available from the young players but many of these simply cannot afford to get into these elite programs.

These are points that perhaps are a bit more long term thinking, but it’s good to see that all were in agreement that we must nurture our local talent and not let many of them slip through the cracks purely because of financial reasons.

At the end of the day, and from conversations I’ve had with various forum attendees, is that we just hope the FFA set this team up correctly, continue to engage the community and schools to get a real presence in the area and leave a lasting impression for generations to come.

One thinks that if this model of setting up a team actually pays off and is successful, that we’ll see similar strategies in other areas in the coming years.

Those that have sat on the panel and have attended these forums all have an ambition that this club could very easily become the biggest club in the A-League, and it wouldn’t take too long to do so. The foundations were laid decades ago. Now we finally get to build it together.