Queensland’s Western Pride Football Club announces affiliation with Everton Football Club*Western Pride joins the Everton International Academy Affiliate Programme
*The Ipswich-based, Queensland club will benefit from guidance and expertise from Everton’s world-renowned Youth Academy
*Players from Western Pride will have the opportunity for training visits to the Premier League side’s state-of-the-art facilities in Liverpool, England
*Western Pride is the second Australian Club to sign up, following Joondalup City, Perth
Western Pride, one of the most well-respected football clubs in Queensland, has become the latest Australian club to sign up as an affiliate of English Premier League side Everton Football Club.
Western Pride is now a member of the Everton International Academy Affiliate Programme (EIAAP). The programme will provide Western Pride’s coaching staff and players of all ages with year-round assistance and guidance from coaches at the world-renowned Everton Youth Academy which has produced a host of Premier League stars including England’s all-time record goal scorer Wayne Rooney.
Everton coaches will travel to Western Pride when international travel guidelines allow, to assist in implementing the Everton Academy curriculum. Western Pride players and coaches will make annual visits to train at Everton’s state-of-the-art USM Finch Farm complex.
The EIAAP also has structures in place to deliver its programme remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, via its digital platform which allows affiliates to access resources and maintain regular contact with Everton coaches.
The new affiliation also gives Western Pride access to sporting and business best practice to improve sustainability and aid growth – a level of support that sets the EIAAP apart from more traditional models.
To take advantage of this new opportunity, players are being advised to register now for Western Pride Talent Identification Sessions which will take place during November.
Visit:
www.evertonfc.com/westernpridefcPatrick Boyle, Western Pride Chairman said, “Western Pride are always striving to increase the standard of club, player and product offered to the wider football community. The partnership with Everton will enhance our strategic and commercial direction to ensure Western Pride continues to build and have a positive impact on our members. Western Pride will leverage off the experience of some of the football leaders at Everton. Our partnership will motivate and inspire our team, right across the organisation, to enable Western Pride to deliver on our mission.”
Pye Augustine, Football Operations Manager at Western Pride said: “Western Pride look forward to a long-term collaborative partnership with a leading internationally-renowned football club such as Everton. The partnership will deliver high-quality football opportunities and resources for our players and coaches, that will expand the professionalism that Western Pride currently espouses.”
David Unsworth, Director of the Everton Academy said: “Western Pride’s new status as an Everton International Academy Affiliate Programme member marks the next phase in their ambition and growth, and will see them gain the best in sporting knowledge and insight from our Academy coaches.
“At Everton we have a passion for developing quality footballers but also helping them grow as people. This is something that we share with Western Pride, a great academy club with teams of all ages. I’m confident this new partnership can help Western Pride achieve the goals they have set for the advancement of their club as a whole and, more specifically, around player development. We look forward to working closely together over the coming years.”
Everton has a strong Australian fan base with Official Everton Supporters’ Clubs based across the country. The club has also seen a number of high-profile Australian signings over the years including Australia’s all-time leading goal scorer Tim Cahill who scored 68 goals from 278 appearances for Everton during an eight year spell at Goodison Park.
Australia forward Hayley Raso joined Everton Women in January from Brisbane Roar and is a regular star for The Matildas, while Sydney-born Con Ouzounidis has represented Australia at youth level and is part of David Unsworth’s Everton Under-23s side.
Visit:
www.evertonfc.com/westernpridefcThe Everton International Academy Affiliate Programme (EIAAP) is available to grassroots teams, professional sides, youth academies, girls’ and women’s teams, as well as colleges and universities.
To find out more or enquire about joining the EIAAP, please click
here.
About Western Pride:Western Pride Football Club was established in 2012 by Football Ipswich, a unique partnership with the city’s local FFA-affiliated clubs, who came together with a view to create a complete football career pathway for the region’s youth. It is a community-focused club which represents the growing Greater Ipswich and Western Corridor of South East Queensland regions in the national second-tier NPL Queensland competition.
The club comprises of male and female teams from U13 to seniors, plus Skills Acquisition and Development Programmes starting at U6s. Western Pride’s footprint covers over 6,000 active playing members, families and supporters from Ipswich, Brisbane’s western and Centenary suburbs.
About Everton Football Club:One of the 12 Founder Members of the Football League, Everton has spent more seasons in England’s top division than any other Club (117) and been crowned league champions on nine occasions.
Founded in 1878 as St Domingo, the Club has also lifted the FA Cup five times and, in 1985, added the European Cup Winners’ Cup to its prestigious haul.
Throughout its 142-year history Everton has been known as a family-oriented Club based on proud traditions, affectionately referred to as ‘The People’s Club’. Those traditions have also encouraged innovation, ensuring Everton has remained one of the great pioneering Clubs in the history of the game. The first Club to construct a purpose-built football stadium, Goodison Park is one of the most revered stadiums in England. In the coming years the Club will be looking maintain those traditions in a new 52,888 capacity stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock, ensuring the Club’s roots remain in north Liverpool for generations to come.
As a pioneer, the Club are renowned for many firsts that we take for granted in today’s game. Everton was the first Club to see its players wear shirts numbered 1 to 11, the first Club to go on an overseas tour, the first English Club to install dugouts and undersoil heating, the first Club to feature in a televised match, the first Club to introduce a regular matchday programme, the first Club to present its players with medals for winning the Football League championship and the first Club to have a player, Dixie Dean, break the 60 goals barrier in a single league season.
About David Unsworth:David Unsworth is a proud Evertonian who has enjoyed two spells as a player with Everton Football Club. As a defender, he won the FA Cup under Joe Royle in 1995 and amassed more than 350 appearances for the Club, scoring 40 goals.
Unsworth has led the Club’s Under-23s to the Premier League 2 title twice - including the double-winning season of 2018/19 which also culminated in Premier League Cup glory.
He was awarded the Talent Development Coach of the Year award in 2017, after his first Premier League 2 title with Everton, at the UK Coaching Awards.
Unsworth was inducted as a Club Giant in 2019 to join greats such as Dixie Dean, Alan Ball and Neville Southall and holds the joint positions of Director of the Everton Academy and manager of the Club’s Under-23s.
Everton FC
