By GEORGIA WESTGARTH
CASEY’S Dasmesh Sports Club (DSC) soccer team needs a place to train and has been searching the south-east for the past two years.
The multicultural not for profit club opened with just 15 keen soccer players three years ago and has expanded to include netball, volleyball, badminton, wrestling and cricket.
Its teams play national, local and interstate tournaments with the Australian Sikh Games.
But club manager Kulwant Singh said his soccer team currently trains at three different grounds each week and has no permanent arrangements.
“Everyone has a place to train and play except our soccer team,” he said.
“We hire a ground in Springvale and alternate between another pitch in Springvale and Cranbourne but it becomes expensive.”
Mr Singh said his team will often get pushed out to make way for the ground’s home team and is constantly on the lookout for its next pitch to play on.
“Recently we have grown a lot, we have nearly 100 people in DSC and 25 soccer players,” he said.
Mr Singh is forced to operate the club out of his own home in Lynbrook and said he hopes to find more than just a place to train in the next few years.
“We have many families that want to hold fundraising barbecues for the club and cultural events, we sometimes have them at members’ homes or the Lynbrook Park so it would be nice to have rooms,” he said.
The soccer team, made up of 18 to 30-year-olds, trains up to four times a week in the lead up to tournaments but, unfortunately, hasn’t won one yet.
Mr Singh said that would surely change if the team had a solid base to train at and a weekly roster.
With members from Lynbrook, Cranbourne and Narre Warren, Mr Singh said the club would be happy with a soccer pitch situated anywhere from Springvale to Casey.
Casey councillor Amanda Stapledon said one of the reasons the council felt the need to set up the Casey Association Football Reference Advisory Committee (CAFRAC) is because of instances like these.
“The whole purpose of CAFRAC was formed to meet the needs of the soccer community because it’s vastly growing,” Cr Stapledon said.
“I’ve linked DSC with appropriate council officers to ensure they find a place for them.
“But it comes down to soccer usage and the sport is in such demand and clubs have a lot of teams – we are looking for opportunities to fit them in around other clubs.”
Anyone who is aware of a permanent training residency for DSC can contact Kulwant Singh through the club’s Facebook page.
