Team 11 was the talk of Federal Parliament recently when Member for Holt Anthony Byrne made a speech publicly backing south-east Victoria’s bid for an A-League and W-League licence.

Mr Byrne is one of many members of parliament – both state and federal – to have met with Team 11 officials in recent months to discuss the bid and its plans for the future.

The Australian Labor Party member’s passionate advocacy in the House of Representatives on June 21 was backed by another south-east MP, La Trobe’s Jason Wood – a Liberal Party member – which Mr Byrne said shows “true bipartisanship” on the issue.

“In the Casey region in my electorate of Holt, there is growing interest in the world’s great game of football,” Mr Byrne MP said in Canberra.

“I’m delighted that Team 11 is submitting a bid to be one of the two new A-League teams for the 2019-20 season.

“Under the plan, Team 11 is looking for funding from both the Victorian and Australian governments to build a stadium with an initial seating capacity of between 12,000 and 20,000 people at a proposed site next to the Dandenong train station.

“Team 11—and I’m sure the member for La Trobe will support this as well—is also wishing to obtain funding for an elite Centre of Excellence to be situated at Casey Fields in the Cranbourne East part of my electorate of Holt.

“These facilities will provide a development pathway for players in Melbourne’s south-east.

“Noting the growing — the exploding — level of interest in football in our region, I hope that Football Federation Australia will give the people of the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne the A-League team that they want and deserve.”

See the full speech below.