SOCCER
HAVING played, coached at junior and senior levels, been a team manager, sponsor and committeeman putting his hand up for the presidency seemed the next logical step in Travis Mitchell’s Skye United journey.
The 45 year-old father of three was recently elected unopposed to the local club’s top job after Mick Stevens ended a two-year stint to concentrate on family matters.
“I’ve known the Attard family really well and talking to Daniel helped me realise that I had all the tools needed to run the club and make sure we are focussing on the right areas,” Mitchell said.
The co-owner of Peninsula Furniture Frames was elected unopposed and got down to business straight away.
“I think one of the areas we need to focus on is our MiniRoos and our junior coaching.
“The new committee has been talking about a renewed focus on those programs and looking at the pathway from our juniors to our seniors.
“That’s really at the forefront of what we want to achieve at the club.
“We don’t have a technical director but we’ve discussed that and we are definitely looking at having someone to fit that role, someone who can really drive that area.”
The senior men’s side was relegated from State 1 this year while the senior women’s side won promotion from State 3.
The club recently announced that Phil McGuinness had been retained as head coach of the senior men and Mitch Ball had been retained as head coach of the senior women.
“I’ve told Phil that we want to see the men back in State 1 and I want to back our senior women’s program and see them in State 1 as well.
“We learnt a lot with the men in State 1 this year.
“It taught us how professional we need to be at that level.
“I feel that as a club we’ve grown quite quickly in the last 10 years but we’ve done so with essentially the same people.
“We haven’t gone out and brought in people from big clubs with the knowledge of how to run those clubs instead we’ve kind of been learning as we go.”
One of the tasks that falls into the lap of a Skye United president is convincing politicians that having 38 teams and just two pitches on your home ground is untenable.
And Skye is a co-tenant at Skye Recreation Reserve so for six months of the year it is homeless.
Skye has access to Carrum Downs Recreation Reserve for two nights a week in summer months and conducts junior clinics there but so much more needs to be done by local, state and federal government to give this thriving community sports club a year-long venue that does away with the need to roster training and cap its participant numbers.
“There’s talk of the Wedge Road housing development with three pitches in a sporting precinct there.
“We’ve been told that we are top of the list of prospective tenants but that’s some years away yet.
“We’ll continue to talk to council about this.”
Let’s wish Mitchell good luck with those discussions.
It will be interesting to see if he can succeed where his predecessors couldn’t.
If he does he’ll have made a significant contribution to the longevity of the club he loves.
In State 6 news Frankston Pines striker Kenny Akalan is aiming for a 20-goal haul next season.
The 30-year-old scored 15 goals last season which was his highest total in senior football and one that fills him with confidence looking ahead to 2027.
“We started connecting with each other in the last few games of the season,” Akalan said.
“We realised that our best formation was a 4-2-3-1 and it worked really well.”
It has been a long and winding road that has led Akalan to Monterey Reserve.
His football journey started with Berwick City’s juniors progressing to the reserves then the under-21s at Oakleigh Cannons and Dandenong Thunder before stepping away from the sport for a year.
He returned for the 2015 season with Dingley Stars and three seasons later he joined Keysborough.
He played for South East United in the pandemic-struck 2021 season then had a season with Tullamarine before joining Dandenong South then Pines.
His decision to sign with Pines soon became a family affair with his wife Selen playing in the women’s team and their son Karan in one of the junior teams.
“I can see a lot of commitment by the committee here, by the volunteers, the players and everyone involved even with the juniors.”
While Akalan played a key role in ending three consecutive seasons of relegation at Pines he now faces a new challenge.
“I want to be part of a team that’s driven and wants to improve consistently, a team that’s prepared to work hard towards promotion.
“I didn’t expect to score 15 goals to be honest but now that I have I guess I’ll have to set a higher target so I’m going to go for 20 goals next year.”
Akalan’s first season at Pines saw him runner-up in the players’ player of the year award while running away with Golden Boot honours.
He was the third highest scorer in the league.
“I love the game so much and I don’t know how many more seasons I’ve got in me so I really want to be part of a team that wants to succeed.”
Still in State 6 and newly promoted Aspendale will have two to three training sessions in December as it starts its preparations for next season.
Last season was the club’s first promotion since joining State League for the 2018 season and it was Jason Grieve’s first season as head coach.
Of the 19 players who played more than 10 games in 2025 only five fronted for 2026.
Grieve’s response was to promote a number of reserves players and bring in some players from outside the club including midfielders Tom Machin and Jack Gallagher.
“They brought experience from playing at a higher level and helped us greatly,” Grieve said.
“In the first half of last season we were inconsistent but we then went unbeaten in the second half of the season and only conceded 10 goals in those 11 games.
“We beat the top team Noble Suns twice and got the (promotion) job done.”
Grieve didn’t have a playing budget at his disposal and his players all paid for their registration and club fees.
That won’t change next year.
What will change though is the make-up of the senior squad with captain Matthew Leggett going overseas and top scorer Mitch Hodder moving to New South Wales.
Leggett won Aspendale’s players’ player award, Machin was player of the year and the young player of the year was Oscar Carter.
