Port Fairy Soccer Club assistant coach Steve McKellar seeing improvement at SWVFA club

The Port Fairy Soccer Club men's playing assistant coach is thriving at the club, watching the youngsters come through and numbers rising exponentially.

He said the second-year South West Victoria Football Association club was building a strong and sustainable culture.

"The general culture of the club is good, it's really supportive, everyone gets behind each other if you're having struggles," he said.

"The atmosphere from the juniors all the way to the division one seniors is really positive.

"It's been fantastic to be a part of it."

MORE SPORT:

The former Warrnambool Wolves and Warrnambool Rangers player returned to the game after a few years away with work and study and said it had been a "wonderful" journey since joining the club.

"I worked with Woody Bucci, one of the co-founders of the club, and I asked him if heeded a couple of extra players and he said 'yeah come along and see how you go'," he said.

"I've loved it ever since. From the first season last year with a new bunch of guys, it's been great.

"We had an interrupted season last year with COVID and everything but this year the numbers have been booming, especially with internationals coming over here for work visas."

The Plovers are seeing positive results on the pitch with the men's division one team third while the women's senior team sits second and the men's division two team is also placed second on the table.

"The first season was about finding our feet, getting through COVID and getting to know each other," he said.

"We've established ourselves over the last year and the results on the field are coming - strong training and mentality off the pitch has been unreal too.

"We've got the hunger to push the season all the way and see how far we can go."

McKellar said the sky was the limit for the club in the future with the growth of the game plain to see.

"Whether it's through juniors or the MiniRoos program, we're seeing massive numbers, but stuff outside our community like the Socceroos getting in the World Cup, the Matildas as well and the growth of the A-League coming into the region has contributed to interest in soccer out here," he said.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content:

Now just one tap with our new app: Digital subscribers now have the convenience of faster news, right at your fingertips with The Standard:

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.