Perth Voice Interactive

A FORMER sports writer who covered the early years of Perth Glory fears the club is missing the chance to cash in on the interest generated by the recent World Cup by having it’s women’s team playing out in the boondocks.

The lack of a permanent home ground has been a long-standing issue for the team, which boasts international soccer sensation Sam Kerr as its hometown hero. 

Perth Glory women are currently forced to play at Macedonia Park in Balcatta, with a capacity of 4000, compared to the 20,500 at HBF Stadium where the men’s team will play all its games this season. 

Vivien Langham who wrote for the Voice’s earlier iteration Vincent News back when the Glory were getting off the ground, said she was shocked at the “tiny capacity” of the Macedonia stadium and was confused why the women’s team was “relegated to inferior facilities”.

Putting her concerns in context, when Glory’s men’s team had to relocate to Macedonia in 2022 while HBF Stadium was being refurbished, its average attendances dropped from more than 8000 to around 3800 per game.

Bizarre

Ms Langham contacted Glory about her concerns earlier this week and said the response was “informative but they told me the decision of the oval was beyond their control.”

The women’s team has also been shunted to a late 7pm kick-off, a situation Ms Langham describe as “bizarre”.

“7pm starts will prevent many young fans from to being able to attend the vast majority of women’s matches, and the early season ones will be played in the twilight,” she said.

Ms Langham said Glory told her that was so their matches didn’t clash with A-League games in the eastern states, a decision made by the sport’s governing body.

“Surely WA can do better,” she says.

Ms Langham said Perth Glory’s women should be holding their games at Fremantle Oval with its larger capacity of 10,000 people; it’s already the location of the league’s club rooms, while their training fields aren’t far away in Beaconsfield.

The Voice contacted Glory but didn’t hear back before deadline.

by ELLA ROSS