AUSTRALIAN soccer royalty Harry Kewell says Ballarat missed out by not hosting his junior clinic at the city’s premier soccer facility.
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“You’ve just built it, so why not use it?”
- Harry Kewell
The national soccer icon was in the city on Friday as part of the Harry Kewell Academy, holding a clinic for about 100 children at Trekardo Park.
However, Kewell said it would have been far better for the children and the city to host the clinic at the
$5.35 million Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility, less than a kilometre down the road.
The clinic was hosted by the Ballarat Soccer Club, which is based at Trekardo Park.
But Kewell said he was disappointed not to use the city’s best facility.
“You’ve just built it, so why not use it?” he said.
“It would have been fantastic, but we are here and we will make the best of it. These are the sort of pitches I grew up on, but I hear the other facility is amazing.”
Ballarat Soccer Club president Tina Verhey said her club was approached by Kewell’s academy and chose to hold the clinic at their home base.
She said it was up to the academy to try and book the Morshead Park pitch if they wished. As part of the drills session, only half of the Trekardo main pitch could be used due to a lack of lighting, meaning half of the drills had to be carried out on the rough secondary pitch.
“I actually wanted the game over there (Trekardo Park main pitch) ... the kids can’t dribble on this turf, so they are going to have to pass because the ball is going to be bobbling everywhere,” Kewell said.
“If you build top-class facilities, make sure you use them. The synthetic pitches can get used 100 per cent all year round.”
Verhey said there had been a number of people ask why the clinic was not held at Morshead Park.
“They (the academy) could’ve changed it but they would have had to go through the city council,” she said.
“We’re not going to hesitate to have it at our home ground.
“It’s huge for Ballarat. It shows that not everything has to happen to the big club in Ballarat, it can be the smaller clubs that benefit as well.”
The Harry Kewell Academy is touring Australia, where the former Socceroo will aim to give juniors first-hand, expert experience of the world game.
The former Leeds and Liverpool star was voted Australia’s greatest soccer player by Australian fans, players and media in 2012.
patrick.nolan@fairfaxmedia.com.au