Reflecting on the team’s season, Jason recalls one of his fondest moments, the club’s very first game at home back in Round 4:

“All this work we'd done over months to build [towards that moment] and finally we had all these people coming out. It was in the middle of a snowstorm. All these crazy fans were singing for 90 minutes. It was just a culmination of a lot of effort and in another sense, the start of something that has grown bigger and bigger throughout the season.”

Credit: Justin Nuoffer

Whilst Forward’s historic inaugural season, in which they won the hearts of so many, may now be over, the A-League season has only just kicked off here, and Australia’s brand new team, Western United, have made a promising start to their first-ever campaign, coming away from Wellington with the 1-0 victory.

However, it’ll be United’s first home game will be the one to really stick with fans forever. Just like Jason describes, United’s home clash against Perth Glory this upcoming weekend will be its own culmination of behind-the-scenes efforts. Might United endure a similar rollercoaster season which ends in finals qualification?

In many ways, the first home game will signal the end of one chapter and the beginning of another; the end of the naming, branding and preparatory work to get the club off the ground, but the beginning of Western United, the A-League team.