The Central Coast Mariners will be travelling to Mudgee to take on Blacktown City FC in the FFA Cup Round of 32 and part of the reason in the change of venue, was to bring the global game to areas of the country that haven’t much football in recent times.
The FFA Cup is about discovering the hidden stories throughout Australian football and one club with many stories is local side, Mudgee Gulgong Wolves FC. They have a longstanding 30 year history with the region and aim to offer the best football programs that they can for Mudgee residents. Club President Christopher Clegg, who migrated from Sydney to the wine region in 2016, highlighted the reason behind being called the Wolves.
“The club has been operating in the region for 30 years and it’s humble beginnings arose after a group of Englishmen living in Mudgee formed a football side. These gentlemen were from the North of England, Wolverhampton to be exact, and being Wolves fans, proceeded to name this new club the Mudgee Wolves.”
Along the way, even after the inclusion of the Gulgong area, the Wolves have maintained their culture and identity and now sport upwards of 650 players ranging from ages of 4 to 60+.
“We aim to be the most professional non-professional club in Australia. We want to provide as many opportunities as possible for our juniors, because it is very difficult to commit to an NPL program in a metro region with the amount of travel required” Clegg said.
The Wolves are a club that want to be heavily focussed on community and aim to build connections with professional teams like the Mariners in order to help fund their new programs.
“The Wolves aim to provide an opportunity to everyone, whether you be young or old, male or female. In future, we want to offer opportunities in the walking football scene as well as in disability football. If kids want to aspire to be a professional footballer, we want to help them along that journey and push them to be as good as they can be.”
The Glen Willow Stadium hosts four fields of which the Mudgee Gulgong Wolves share with other codes and often struggle to maintain interest for juniors in a community that is heavily focussed on rugby league. The state-of-the-art facility has hosted NRL contests in recent times, and many have commented on the carpet like surface that will greet the players on arrival on Saturday night.
“You will walk out onto the field and think wow, what a great place to play football.”
In hosting this game, the Mudgee Gulgong Wolves will be partnering with both Blacktown City FC and the Central Coast Mariners to ensure that everyone in attendance can enjoy the action on the field, after the club volunteered their time and resources to assist in running the BBQ and the bar as well as scanning tickets on entry and assisting where possible throughout the venue.
“These finances can go towards getting quality coaches out to this region to not only help educate parents and new coaches alike, but provide the best environment for kids to learn” Clegg said.
The match will kick off at 5pm at Glen Willow Stadium and in being a supporter at the match, you can help support local football in the Mudgee region.
Get your tickets for the match here!
