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<\/p>\nThe FV\u2019S Shepparton branch is providing youngsters across the Goulburn Valley region with opportunities to play soccer in a new format, with the sport continuing to grow exponentially on these shores.<\/p>\n
Teams fielded by Tatura, Shepparton United, Shepparton South and Shepparton SC have already played two rounds of fixtures in age groups from Under-8 up to Under 16, including Open Girls divisions.<\/p>\n
\u201cBeing a brand new competition in the Goulburn Valley, the input from the clubs, the looks on the kids\u2019 faces and the response from the parents has been amazing,\u201d organization leader Lelliot said.<\/p>\n
With the continued success of the Socceroos and the Matildas on the international stage, the future looks bright for Australia as the country looks to compete on a global scale for generations to come.<\/p>\n
The 2026 FIFA Men\u2019s World Cup will begin in less than a month\u2019s time, with the United States, Canada and Mexico hosting the tournament in what promises to be a historic spectacle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just know that we\u2019re going to grow and be bigger from here,\u201d Lelliot continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou always see a spike (in popularity) when there is something like an Olympics or a World Cup as it draws attention to the sport – especially when you\u2019ve got a national team that\u2019s involved.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it\u2019ll be great to see the Socceroos on the national stage and how that filters through down to under-sevens, hopefully we\u2019ve got some Socceroos in the making!<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not just the boys too, the girls are just as keen as the boys are and that\u2019s something that we\u2019re not shying away from and we want to get them as involved as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving the Matildas being as successful as they are also helps to get the name out there in seeing the young women that they can aspire to be.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cEven though this is a Football Victoria-led competition, it doesn\u2019t matter whether it\u2019s Tatura or Mansfield or Shepparton United; everyone\u2019s trying to gather around the kids and make things happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
With trials having taken place at Tatura on May 11 for the all-star FV Shepparton team ahead of the King\u2019s Birthday Long Weekend event down in Geelong, the future certainly looks bright for talented players across the region.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Shepparton\u2019s Garang Kuol shot to Socceroos stardom after his beginnings in the Goulburn Valley.
\n Photo by
\n Hannah Peters<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Country Champs has always been something people from this region have spoken about wanting to be involved in and we have under-12 boys, under-14 boys, under-13 girls and under-15 girls that we\u2019re entering in from Shepparton, Lelliot said, as she discussed levelling the playing field for young players who are not from metropolitan areas.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s one of the biggest things that you hear from parents and clubs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are just as invested and are happy to travel two or three hours for a competition – just because they are regional kids, that doesn\u2019t mean we don\u2019t have the talent out here and we have great coaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s definitely a cry out for the sport, it\u2019s definitely growing and we want to be known as the place where regional junior football is blossoming the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of the 2024 National Participation Report, it was estimated that participation numbers skyrocketed by 11 percent in the aftermath of the FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup, held in Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been great to see, we have a family of four and their kids are all playing across the different age groups over the weekends,\u201d Lelliot said of the engagement from the community so far.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been lovely seeing mums, dads, grandparents, aunties and uncles cheering on the sidelines and the numbers are incredible – we hope it grows from here on out!\u201d<\/p>\n
Players between the ages of seven and 11 can join in with the MiniRoos and then beyond that age, participants play a home and away season, with home games at the grounds of their respective clubs.<\/p>\n
You can join in with teams every Saturday at John McEwen Reserve and follow Football Victoria Shepparton on social media for more updates. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The FV\u2019S Shepparton branch is providing youngsters across the Goulburn Valley region with opportunities to play soccer in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669766,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,85],"class_list":["post-669765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669765","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=669765"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669765\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}