{"id":34324,"date":"2025-07-31T06:32:21","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T06:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/34324\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T06:32:21","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T06:32:21","slug":"casey-mayor-and-deputy-mayor-call-for-afl-to-bring-footy-back-to-the-suburbs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/34324\/","title":{"rendered":"Casey Mayor and Deputy Mayor call for AFL to bring footy back to the suburbs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/afl_493469_01.jpg\" data-caption=\"Casey Mayor Cr Stefan Koomen and Deputy Mayor Cr Melinda Ambros at Casey Fields. (Supplied)\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"td-modal-image open-lightbox\" style=\"max-height: 100px; padding: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/afl_493469_01.jpg\"\/><\/a><a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/afl_493469_02.jpg\" data-caption=\"Casey Mayor Cr Stefan Koomen and Deputy Mayor Cr Melinda Ambros at Casey Fields. (Supplied)\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"td-modal-image open-lightbox\" style=\"max-height: 100px; padding: 10px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/afl_493469_02.jpg\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Casey Council is calling for the AFL to seriously consider how it can bring footy back to the suburbs\u2014particularly to the rapidly growing South Eastern suburbs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is hard for residents in Casey to see their heroes play, which I fear is fast becoming a thing of the past,\u201d Mayor Cr Stefan Koomen said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m talking about the journey for a Casey resident to see their team play\u2014because from some parts of our municipality, it can take up to two hours to get to the MCG. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not just inconvenient\u2014it\u2019s a barrier to participation. We want our kids to grow up with access to elite sport in their own backyard.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While the AFL has recently purchased Waverley Park and continues to push for a team in Tasmania, Mayor Cr Koomen said it\u2019s time to look closer to home.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe currently have the population of Canberra living in Casey, and in 15 years we will be the size of Tasmania,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy wouldn\u2019t we expect the AFL to seriously consider what they can do for this region? They did it for Ballarat, and that\u2019s been a success. Casey is next.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Located in Cranbourne East, the multi-sport precinct Casey Fields is already home to the Melbourne Football Club\u2019s elite AFLW team and serves as their key training base. Casey Fields hosts regular-season VFL and VFLW Casey Demons and Melbourne Football Club AFLW games, as well as pre-season AFL matches.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not asking the AFL to build a new stadium\u2014we\u2019re asking them to help us build on what we already have,\u201d Mayor Cr Koomen said. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cMelbourne Football Club and the Casey Demons have been incredible partners\u2014but they can\u2019t do it alone. It\u2019s time for the AFL to step up and bring elite footy back to the suburbs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Improving access to Casey Fields is also a key part of the Council\u2019s long-term vision. <\/p>\n<p>One of its top advocacy priorities is the extension of the rail network from Cranbourne to Clyde, identified in Infrastructure Victoria\u2019s 30-year strategy, which would directly service Casey Fields and allow spectators to travel to matches via public transport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re planning for the future,\u201d Mayor Cr Koomen said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBetter transport links will make Casey Fields more accessible and match-ready. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is about smart, long-term investment.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Deputy Mayor Cr Melinda Ambros echoed this sentiment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn order to grow the game, the AFL needs to grow with us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe South East growth corridor is one of the most passionate and fastest-growing parts of the country.  <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re calling on the AFL to work with Council and the community to explore the potential for hosting AFL matches in the region. It\u2019s time to bring footy back to the suburbs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Casey Council is calling for the AFL to seriously consider how it can bring footy back to the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":34325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[560],"tags":[638,64,63,55,639,85],"class_list":["post-34324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-afl","tag-afl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-football-league","tag-australianfootballleague","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}