Altona City prepare for debut season in WPL
By Emma Field
Altona City will look to continue their extraordinary five year winning streak when they kick off their first Womens Premier League (WPL) season in 2010.
The Western suburb team have been the rising stars of the womens league, losing only five times in the past five seasons, topping their league consecutively plus averaging a goal difference of 83 and amassing an incredible 276 goals over the past three years.
Since 2005 the team has won girls under 15 and 16 leagues then at senior level topped Metro League, State League Division 2 and in 2009 were the minor and major premiers in Division 1, earning them a crack at the big time in Premier League this year.
Paul Kilpatrick is the Altona coach and has been with the team since under 15’s when he was asked to coach the girls. Despite never coaching a female team before, and has taken the them to unimaginable heights.
The club has a young team, with around 80 per cent under the age of 18, mixed with some recruits from the Keilor Park WPL team, which folded early in the 2009 season, adding valuable experience.
Kilpatrick said he is still looking to add at least five more players to his squad and while simply remaining in premier league is a major goal but he is confident Altona will be competitive in the top league.
“We are certainly good enough to compete with most of the teams there (in the WPL),” Kilpatrick said.
“If you look at the Premier League last year it was fairly open, both Box Hill and Heidelberg…lost three-one to a couple of sides, which is quite a big defeat for those two power houses.
“A lot of people are saying that to play in the top five is out of our reach, but I think that’s something we’ve got to go into the season to do, to play finals.
“First and foremost to remain in the premier league is what every club wants to do each year, so survival is the first thing,” he said.
He admits that lack of depth may cause problems during the season and the young team has a number of year 12 VCE students, which may see some players to put study before football.
Kilpatrick has played an important role in the development of the Altona womens team urging the club to take the womens game seriously several years ago. From one female team five years ago the club is likely to field five girls and womens teams, including the WPL team, in 2010.
City has hardly taken a breath since learning of their promotion and commenced training last year. After a short Christmas break they will start three sessions a week on 6 January and have a number of practice matches lined up from late February.
The gap between Division One and Premier League is vast, and one that Geelong failed to bridge last season winning only one game at the top level before being relegated, but Altona have a formidable record and a young team with nothing to lose.
It would certainly do nothing but strengthen womens football in the western suburbs if Altona can hold their own in the top womens league, and hopefully draw some state selectors to have a second look at the talent in the club.
Altona will be joined in the WPL in 2010 by South Springvale, who finished second in Division One and have accepted the offer of promotion.
