With its maiden A-League season not yet over, the consensus is that the NRMA Insurance Western Sydney Wanderers have been a roaring success, both on and off the pitch.
The club has not only achieved consistent results and emerged as a genuine title contender, but it has also carefully, thoughtfully and methodically engaged with the western suburbs community and the results being achieved off the park speak for themselves.
The Wanderers’ have averaged crowds of 11,000 in season one. Before the season had even kicked off – in August and September - the club had already made contact with 100,000 people at 55 events across western Sydney.
Global sportswear manufacturer, Nike, can’t keep up with demand for Wanderers jerseys and the club has not only achieved its aspirational sales target of 5,000 memberships, but has exceeded it by some 30 per cent.
Wanderers executive chairman, Lyall Gorman said the club was focused on putting the foundation building blocks in place to ensure the long-term viability and sustainability of the club.
“That’s built on many things, but for us there’s three key pillars – one’s the community, another is grassroots football and the other is business,” Gorman told WSBA in a telephone interview this week.
“We’ve been working very, very hard in all those areas, just trying to establish all those relationships and I think you’ll see that’s starting to get results – today for example, we sold 30 memberships and we expect we’ll pass the 6,500-mark this week.
“We budgeted for 5,000 members for this year, it was an aspirational target and we wanted to set some sort of benchmark because if you shoot for nothing, you get nothing.”
Gorman said that despite only a handful of games remaining until the end of the A-League season, the Wanderers were still at the start of a long and rewarding journey and western Sydney businesses should contact the club to discuss potential partnerships.
The Wanderers were engaging with the community through “multiple touch points” and the number of people it was reaching meant there were also great opportunities for partner communications.
“We want to make a difference and we want to be a part of the journey," he said. "We don't come to you cap in hand. If we can't add true value and make a difference in a partnership with you then neither of us should be in that partnership.
"But that's our commitment that we will make a difference and those partners we're working with now - who do grow on a daily basis - are seeing that and they get that."
Mr Gorman said there was also a great opportunity for businesses and brands to show to their and corporate social responsibility and community social responsibility.
“They can give something back,” he said. “And that’s what our driver is – giving something back to the western Sydney region, making them proud of us and giving them a football club they can enjoy and support on a weekend, but also one that will work actively in its community to make a real difference.”
Gorman said the club was built upon the rich history and heritage it had been blessed with, including clubs now competing in the state-based Premier League that had once taken part in the A-League’s predecessor, the National Soccer League.
“And you can go right back to the birth of the game in NSW in 1880 when the first game of football was played between the Kings School and the Wanderers in North Parramatta,” he said.
“So the name’s no mistake and nothing’s a mistake here. We’ve built this club for the people, by the people. The colours are no mistake, where we play is no mistake.
“The fact that we train out of Blacktown, play our women’s league out of Campbelltown, our youth league out of Nepean/Penrith and our men’s out of Parramatta, reinforces our commitment to the western Sydney region.”
Mark Bosnich, who has played at the highest levels of the game both here and abroad and is now making a name in commentary and analysis as Fox Sports’ football expert, says the Wanderers are destined for greatness.
“Western Sydney Wanderers are set to become one of the powerhouses of Australian and Asian football over the next couple of years,” he wrote in an opinion piece in The Daily Telegraph.
Bosnich said that “might sound a bit over the top” given the Wanderers are yet to complete their first season, but his involvement in the club’s birth stretches back to the first of seven community forums at Mounties in Mt Pritchard, which were to shape the A-League’s newest club.
“It quickly emerged how much enthusiasm there was for a club in western Sydney. People put forth their passionate views on everything from playing style to strip and cheered when Tony Popovic was put forward as a potential coach,” Bosnich said.
“At one point I was asked to relay my vision for the fledgling franchise. This isn't about me, it's about you," I said. “The Wanderers has been about them ever since. Western Sydney is the template every club should follow from here on.”
Bosnich said he was always optimistic that the Wanderers would thrive, but had been overwhelmed by their success.
“Popovic's role in shaping the team in his own uncompromising image has been a masterstroke and Gorman's work to create a truly community club has them well placed for the future,” he said.
“I believe this success is just the beginning. It will come as no surprise if, in a few years from now, Western Sydney are rated as one of the superpowers of Asian football.”
