Soccer craze a positive and negative for Scorpions

BACCHUS Marsh Soccer Club is becoming a victim of its own success, with unprecedented growth in player and membership numbers creating severe pressure on its facilities.

The growth is so rapid – particularly in junior girls’ ranks – that the Scorpions are realising that they need a ground of their own for year-round use.

After successfully relaunching a girls program last year, the Scorpions will this season field a senior women’s team for the first time since 2023 along with all-female under-9s, under-11s and under-13s sides in the new Greater Ballarat League.

 

Football Victoria has assumed responsibility for soccer competitions throughout Victoria, with the competition the Scorpions had played in, the Ballarat District Soccer Association (BDSA), effectively disbanding.

The junior girls category folded before the pandemic, followed by the senior women in the 2024 pre-season.

But a resurgence of interest – generally acknowledged to be a result of the Matildas’ performance at the 2023 World Cup – enabled the club to enter three junior teams (under-8s, under-10s and under-14s) last year.

And moves to re-establish a senior women’s team gathered pace late last year when calls for expressions of interest prompted a very strong response.

 

The playing roster for the coming season, from late April to late August (or into September for teams making finals) will feature two senior men’s sides, the senior women, one under-8 and under-9 boys teams; five under-11 boys teams; two under-12 and under-16 boys sides; and three under-14 boys teams.

For the girls, teams will be under-9, under-11, under-13 and under-15.

Scorpions president Scott Williams said the club’s membership had effectively doubled since COVID.

“The club is excited to see the girls back on the field for season 2026, and it’s also great to see some new faces as well,” he said.

 

“There was a lot of time and effort that went into getting the junior girls teams into place last year, and I along with many others in the club are glad to see the momentum build.”

But according to committee member Justin Carroll, the popularity of the sport in Bacchus Marsh is having an unfortunate downside.

Mr Carroll said the days of soccer being only a winter sport were long gone, with the Scorpions entering out-of-season competitions and running programs to keep players and members involved and connected.

But sharing the Bacchus Marsh Racecourse and Recreation Reserve facilities with the local cricket and BMX clubs – themselves highly popular – was creating problems, he said.

Mr Carroll said that with so many players wanting to participate, the club was now struggling to accommodate everyone.

 

He said the “exploding” interest had forced the club to realise that it now effectively needs a home ground and facilities of its own.

“We’re battling for places to play on, (and) for facilities,” Mr Carroll said.

Mr Carroll said summer soccer was now common, with the sport having adopted a European-style system of year-round competitions.

“It’s creating all manner of headaches for us,” he said. “The club has never been in a better position with members and talent, and we’re so happy that all the girls are coming along.”

But he said teams were now running into issues finding unrestricted access to training and playing facilities.

“We need more facilities to play on all year round; it’s not just a winter sport any more,” Mr Carroll said.

“We do have good facilities in winter that you would call ‘ours’; we would just love…all-year-round access.”

Mr Carroll said the club was now trying to lift its profile in the community – and with the Moorabool Shire – in an attempt to somehow secure access to facilities it can use every day of the year.

It has a website, bacchusmarshsoccer.org.au, and a Facebook page called Bacchus Marsh Soccer Club – Scorpions.