Sport
11 February, 2025
Maryborough Soccer Club to tackle best of the best as part of state-wide Dockerty Cup
The Maryborough Soccer Club’s 2025 season will start with a historic moment, playing in their first Dockerty Cup fixture against Melbourne City FC this Saturday.
A severe case of cup fever has swept through the club, with mild symptoms including excitement, nervousness, sleep deprivation and goosebumps.
The outbreak can be traced back to the anticipation of the Dockerty Cup, Victoria’s premier soccer tournament.
A total of 219 teams will compete in the single elimination tournament for a chance to achieve ultimate glory and to qualify for the 2025 Hahn Australia Cup involving A-League sides.
According to club technical director Garry George, the competition provides a unique opportunity for the whole club.
“It’s a chance for this club to be put on the map and that’s something we are really excited about,” he said.
“I’ve been through this process before with a club in Western Australia where we wanted to raise the club’s profile.
“To be more competitive we wanted to be a bit more aspirational, we had a look at the Dockerty Cup to give us a little more exposure and a chance to play at better grounds.
“Hopefully this will start us as we mean to go on and if we can upset someone on the way then all the better.”
In round one, the club has been drawn a home fixture against Melbourne City FC.
Not affiliated with the A-League club of the same name, Melbourne City FC plays in the seventh tier of the Football Victoria pyramid, looking to build further up the Men’s State League 4 West ladder after finishing fifth last season.
The match will be a great challenge for Maryborough’s senior side, a challenge George said the team is up for.
“Once that draw was made, we were hungry for it, we have been playing the same teams every year for a long time and I think everyone is excited,” he said.
“The facilities you can potentially play at will give us the hunger to try and replicate that here ourselves and get us out of our Ballarat bubble.
“The attitude so far has been positive and we can’t wait to get stuck into it.”
While the Maryborough Soccer Club was drawn a home game in the opening round, it certainly won’t feel like home when the game kicks off on Saturday.
With cricket season in full swing, the club couldn’t find a suitable venue in Maryborough to host their historic game.
They will instead travel approximately 70 kilometres and a nearly hour-long drive to play at St Georges Reserve in Sebastopol at noon after the Sebastopol Vikings kindly agreed to lend their ground.
With Maryborough hosting its annual basketball tournament on the same weekend, George is disappointed the town has missed out on a festival of sport.
“Part of the issue is the cricket season, but the fact we are really scratching around for a home venue, we are calling in favours from clubs we would usually consider our rivals just to get a game played is frustrating,” he said.
“It really highlights the need to have our own purpose-built facility.”