It's not a bad life.
 
 
I can get up late on a baking hot summer's day, head into town to meet up with some friends, and enjoy a couple of afternoon beverages while we chat about the footy. We can then head on in to the stadium in our shorts and t-shirts and enjoy a spectacular red/orange/purple sunset behind the main stand - and of course the football that's being played in front of us that very evening, in conditions that are probably around a beautiful 26 degrees or so at 7pm.
 
Alternatively, at the end of summer I can walk down to the local state league ground and pay $8 to see double header of football action; maybe grab a $5 Peroni with a bowl of pasta or enjoy a spot of cevapi. Fast forward a couple of months and I can wake up in the middle of winter and walk outside, into a beautiful clear day with a positively freezing 20 degree maximum, and head on down to my local ground to see some state premier league action. Perhaps after a hearty ale and some chips and gravy, I can mingle with some of the local fans and chat about the latest rumoured transfers, or the next bright young thing who'll be going to trial in Europe or join an English academy, skipping the national league altogether.
 
I've got football all year round, the sun in my eyes, and the beach to convince myself I've better footskills than I actually do. Am I in Brazil? Nope. I'm in Perth, Western Australia - and despite our A-League side's recent history in the national league, we're a key part of the Australian football landscape. WA has had a state football league playing association rules going on back to 1896 (initial champions Fremantle Wanderers) - and it has a rich history of overseas visits and star players. Hajduk Split once played a game against Swan Athletic in Midland; Manchester United, Everton, Manchester City and West Ham have all visited our shores to play the WA state team; and more recently we've seen Fulham, Wolverhampton, and Celtic come for friendlies against Perth Glory.
 
WA has had its fair share of great players, too. Names like Dunn, Zabica, Edwards, Petkovic (x2), Despotovski, Coyne, Williams, and Rukavytsya have all either worn the green and gold of Australia or permanently etched their names on the history of our national league. Matildas Kerr, De Vanna, and McCallum have also been promoting women's football on the western seaboard. We've seen our fair share of international stars - although perhaps more often for their name than their continuing skill - with the likes of Ergic, Fowler, Best, and Brooking all making appearances for sides out west (even if at times they were just fleeting).
 
Yet all this has come about without Football West, the state's peak administrative body since 2004, having an adequate administative headquarters; despite extensions and grants recently handed to other sporting codes such as rugby and AFL. Which is where the "Home of Football" campaign comes in. To borrow from Football West's campaign website:
 

Football needs you.

Whether your interest is entirely based around watching your child kick a ball, participating on a social or semi-professional basis or extends to a deep passion for a local or overseas team, you stand to benefit from the bid to build a Home of Football.

By backing the push for funding, you will be sending a clear message that the most-played team sport in Western Australia has a collective voice that deserves to be heard.

A centre of training excellence, small competition venue, community facilities and administrative headquarters will deliver improvements in every area of football, and to every one of the hundreds of thousands of people it already touches in this state.

This is not about building a house for Football West. It is about building a home for football.

 
Truer words could not be spoken. 
 
While the Charlesworth/Hatt review may be long in the past, and some Glory fans might struggle to remember what it was all about, one of the key findings was none other than "for the club, as a matter of urgency, to establish a combined training and administration facility with Football West, most likely at a tertiary facility". It is no wonder then that Perth Glory themselves are all too happy to get on board the campaign.
 
Of course, whether the proposed Home of Football presents Perth Glory the opportunity to use such a facility should remain a moot point. The fact is, even if Glory was able to rectify its ground situation with Nick Tana - or even if Tana bought back into the club himself - it would still not take away from the need of Western Australia to have a professional home for their football administration. Football West may have its faults, and I certainly don't agree with every decision they make (NTC in the Premier League not being able to be relegated, for instance) but the simple fact is the game is stronger in the state for their work. The promotion of their Night Series, Premier League, and junior competitions improves every year, and their work with social media and engagement with everyone from journalists to bloggers to the everyday fan is something to be admired. 
 
WA is not only a great place to live, it's a state that is booming economically and socially. As the population increases and seeks better ways to keep fit, stay social, and find value-for-money entertainment, football will have an important role in people's lives. The round ball game is already the most-participated sport in this state - and it's only going to grow as new migrants from Asia, Africa, and Europe - not to mention the exotic eastern states - continue to flock to our shores for work and lifestyle reasons. If nothing else, it seems only fair that a state so rich in natural and economic wealth should give back to an important part of its community.
 
With an upcoming state election, now is an important time for the football community as a whole to come out in support of the game in Western Australia, showing both major parties (and the independents, smaller parties, and even the random nutjobs who take up precious ballot paper space) that football is an important part of this state, and that it would be a wise party who made it part of their policies. WA has had enough of the AFL stadium drama - we know we'll get that new stadium, regardless of where it is built - and now it's time to focus on a sport that would get far better use of its relatively small investment.
 
The home of football campaign is not about kicking sand in the eyes of other football codes - it is simply about creating something that has been needed in the WA football community for some time; a professional, state-of-the-art facility that the entire state, let alone those involved with soccer, can be proud of. It will benefit the A-League; the W-League; the Youth League, the state league; and all the leagues below and in between. It will be the house that football built - somewhere for us to appreciate our history, celebrate the present, and plan for the future.
 
It will be a true home of football in Western Australia. 
 
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You too can join in the Home Of Football campaign, by retweeting the #homeoffootball message on Twitter in support of @FootballWest, and signing the petition at http://www.homeoffootball.com.au