To see Sydney train ahead of their Rangers clash tonight...

 

Despite failing in their bid for inclusion into the A-League, south coast are forging ahead with a raft of initiatives to keep fans engaged whilst maintaining momentum for their ultimate goal: a south coast spot in the A-League.

These plans include potentially hosting an NYL and W-League double header featuring both of Sydney FC's sides.

The region also wants to host Sydney FC A-League games in future while also offering the region as a training base during the sky blues' 2011 Asian Champions League campaign.

A key part of this strategy is an alliance with the A-League champions. The two bodies have entered into a memorandum of understanding and south coast hope this link will be mutually beneficial.

"What we're saying to our region is, until we have our own A-League structure, Sydney FC is our own A-League club," Bill Drossos, an advisor/director of Football South Coast on W-League, A-League and FFA relations, told au.fourfourtwo.com.

"We've got two strategic pathways. We clearly want our own A-League structure at some point in time. Until such time, we're absolutely delighted with the Sydney FC arrangement."

However, this arrangement is non-exclusive, meaning south coast can approach Sydney Rovers with a view to starting a similar arrangement. It's believed south coast football has had conversations with Rovers boss Ian Rowden along those lines.  

"It is on the agenda but there's no doubt we'd be having future discussions with them as well," revealed Drossos. "Ultimately, if we're got a couple of games from Sydney FC and a couple from Sydney Rovers at WIN Stadium then fantastic."

But he added: "I personally believe Sydney FC are on the right path in what they're doing."

Wollongong's WIN Stadium has long been a sticking point, but thanks largely to government funding, the old western grandstand is being torn down to be replaced by a new, 5000 seat structure.

Around $1m more has also been spent on new corporate boxes around this historic venue.

"This is the final piece of the puzzle," said Drossos. "It'll be early 2011 for the scheduled completion taking the stadium capacity to around 18-20,000.

"It's a nice atmosphere, it's a coastal ground and 18-20,000 with new facilities will be a great addition to football in this country.

"That will feed into the second phase of the agreement which hopefully means we get some A-League matches in Wollongong for Sydney FC. Then we go from there."

Sydney FC played a pre-season cup game at WIN Stadium in 2008. On a freezing night, around 6000 fans turned up to see the sky blues lose 3-2 to Wellington Phoenix.

South coast football is in the process of signing off on two Sydney FC W-League games - one next November, the other in December - both in Wollongong and at WIN Stadium,and one of those games will be a double header featuring a Sydney FC's NYL fixture.

It could be the forerunner of more permanent things to come, hopes Drossos.

"Now we're probably ready for a W-League and NYL team much the same as Canberra [has done] and it being potentially a precursor to their A-League structure," Drossos said.

Hosting W-League matches dovetails neatly with the rise in popularity of the women's game in the region. Registrations for junior girls and women's are up 18 percent, says Drossos.

And with gun W-League striker and Matilda World Cup hopeful Michelle Heyman playing for powerful local side Illawarra Stingrays, interest is high.

To cap off the south coast strategy the already completed unification of member associations under the one umbrella of Football South Coast means a more efficient approach to football going forward.

"Strategically we moved to a position where we don't want to lose that foothold in football on the south coast," added Drossos.

"At some stage we believe we are viable for our own team, whether it's W-League or NYL. And our A-League application, it's an application that's live, it's there. It's pending."

To see Sydney train ahead of their Rangers clash tonight...