RIVERSIDE Olympic has decided to proceed with its application for a Victory League licence.
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The West Tamar soccer club expects to finalise its application this week and submit it to Football Federation Tasmania after a final committee meeting on Monday.
President Bart Taylor said the decision was made after coaches, players, life members and supporters had discussed the possibility.
FFT opened the door to expressions of interest in May when it announced that two of the existing eight Victory League clubs, Launceston City and Glenorchy Knights, had been requested to reapply for their licences for 2016-18.
Riverside Olympic and four Southern clubs, believed to include Clarence, New Town and University, initially expressed an interest in joining the statewide competition in a competitive application process alongside City and Knights.
‘‘The committee have made the decision to progress and we are going to put an application forward,’’ Taylor confirmed on Tuesday.
V-League applications are due in to FFT by June 26 with marketing manager Damian Gill anticipating ‘‘a competitive process’’.
‘‘We will know after that date who is going to have a crack and then go through to review the process with the board,’’ he said.
‘‘We don’t know whether those five will all apply, we just know they have shown an expression of interest.’’
Riverside, whose seniors currently play in the Northern Championship, has lined up a promotional day on Saturday for life members plus local politicians and councillors.
‘‘We want them to see what we’re all about and get discussions going about funding for the club,’’ Taylor said.
‘‘We’re keen to improve facilities and provide a better stage for all our juniors and hopefully this will help set us up for the next three years and the next life of the V-League.’’
Taylor said the club’s record number of nearly 400 junior players were having to rely on fairly basic facilities including a container for storage.
Riverside’s senior team plays arch-rival Launceston City at 2.30pm on Saturday preceded by under-18 and reserve team fixtures with the women’s team also playing under lights at 4.30pm.