Record numbers for upcoming Great Southern Soccer Association competition

The new Great Southern Soccer Association season officially started this week with men’s and women’s premier divisions to kick off this weekend.

The social divisions are already in progress, with the first games of the 2023 season starting on Tuesday night.

Six teams will make up the men’s division one competition with Bayswater, Polonia, Rovers, Phoenix, Stirling Rangers and Caledonians all set to vie for the coveted title.

The top women’s division will feature a total of eight teams fighting for silverware.

The eight teams featuring in division one are Sharks, Sonics, Denmark, Mt Barker, Rovers, Polonia, Caledonians and Phoenix.

Newly appointed GSSA president Jamie Steele said the continued growth of the sport in the region was extremely encouraging.

“In the men’s we have 22 teams and in the women’s there is 19 teams so a total of 41 teams in all competitions,” he said.

“We are on track for upwards of 800 players so our growth is up by about 20 per cent this season.

“It’s pretty huge and if you include the juniors (Albany Junior Soccer Association) there is just under 3000 players combined.

“We’re the biggest club-based association in the region.

“There are some big projects coming up, we have the festival of football and a few other things.

“We’re hoping to have two more pitches available and we’ll have floodlights hopefully for next season, it just improves our capabilities to put on more games and more matches.

“We appreciate and thank the City of Albany for all their assistance and the maintenance of the pitches has been absolutely awesome.

Steele has been on the executive board for more than four years and said he was looking forward to the continued high levels of participation.

“We want to keep those numbers around that level and make sure clubs are fulfilling their promises towards the games they’re committing to,” he said.

“Making sure those numbers are growing and creating better relationships with other associations as well.

“We are looking actively for referees, whether that is ex-players or people that enjoy the game that want to come down and get involved.”

Great Southern Soccer Association round one fixtures

Men’s division one - Saturday

Bayswater v Polonia, 6pm

Rovers v Phoenix, 6pm

Stirling Rangers v Caledonians, 6pm

Women’s division one - Friday

Sharks v Sonics, 8pm

Denmark v Mt Barker. 8pm

Rovers v Polonia, 8pm

Caledonians v Phoenix, 8pm