Sport
16 July, 2026
Empty pitch
SOUTHS Football Gordonvale is taking a break from competition this season as the club works to rebuild junior player numbers, with coach Frank Van Pamelen confident the town’s rapid growth will help the club return stronger next year.
Mr Van Pamelen said the club had struggled to attract enough players in recent years as more young footballers chose larger clubs.
“The lack of players, kids. Yeah, the numbers are really low,” he said.
He said the break would allow the club to rethink its recruitment strategy and begin promoting itself earlier in the year.
“I said to them, look, you’re going to have to start advertising a little bit earlier than the beginning of the year, like December, January, because by that time everybody else has already got their placards and their sandwich boards out.”
Mr Van Pamelen said Souths had a proud history, with several teams reaching grand finals over the years, but changing attitudes among young players had made it harder for smaller clubs to compete.
“Some of the kids would rather go with winning teams, you know, the big teams,” he said. “They thought, ‘Oh no, I’m going to go for the big club.’ Whereas, in my day, I would go for the nearest.”
Despite the current setback, he believes Gordonvale’s expanding population will eventually bring new families and young players through the club’s gates.
“It’s not a small town anymore,” he said. “Surely they’d be looking for a club closer to where they live.”
Mr Van Pamelen said attracting volunteers would also be critical to the club’s future.
“We need coaches, we need staff like secretaries,” he said. “It’s definitely word of mouth.”
Division 1 councillor Brett Moller said Souths had a positive long-term future as residential development continued across the Mount Peter corridor.
He said the recently declared priority development area planned for another 18,500 homes and an expected population increase of 42,500 to 50,000 people.
Cr Moller said the Gordonvale sport and recreation precinct masterplan identified three new soccer fields at Alley Park West and future council decisions would determine long-term football arrangements for the site. He said Johnson Park was becoming too small to meet future demand and population growth would create many opportunities for football in Gordonvale.
Mr Van Pamelen said the club hoped to use the season break to recruit more players, coaches and volunteers before launching an earlier membership drive, with the aim of returning to competition next season.
