Footballers from Camden to Goulburn will soon have a $38.5 million training precinct after the Macarthur Bulls secured a 42-acre site in Cawdor.
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The site, next to Camden, will serve as a training base for the Bulls' future W-League side and National Premier League teams as well as house the Macarthur FC Foundation.
While technically based in Campbelltown, the Bulls have signed a number of football associations as community partners including Macarthur, Southern Highlands and Southern Tablelands.
Chairman Gino Marra said the club wanted to develop local players as well as provide stronger pathways for female players in the wake of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.
"At the core of this is the fact we want to develop our own players, for both the A-League and W-League teams, and create a flow of talent," Marra told the A-League website.
"Importantly, too, the facility will draw participants from Goulburn to Bankstown and in particular will aim to give young female participants in football a pathway to achieve their performance and participation goals.
"The most significant international sporting event in the 2023 Women's Football World Cup, which Australia will co-host, will give a significant impetus for participation in our game and we will need to be prepared for that."
Five pitches, administration space and a sports science facility will headline the first stage on construction while a further six pitches will be added in future to allow the club to expand its academy program.
The site also has a fascinating link with the Bulls' name and the region's colonial history having been bought for $3.5 million from Camden's Boardman family.
The Boardman family were gifted the site at the turn of the 19th century by John Macarthur, the famous wool pioneer for whom the club is named.
"We'd been looking for the last eight or nine months for suitable land, and about three months ago we learned this plot might be available," Marra said.
"The Boardman family are really pleased that the link to John Macarthur is there in the club name, and it's nice to have that sense of history when we are such a new club."