Soccer
13 February, 2026
Come and Try for new soccer competition
Horsham & District Soccer Club will host a come-and-try session tonight at May Park from 6.30pm. The club aims to establish a league that is more accessible to local players.
Club president Paul Barnett explained that, since senior players previously traveled as far as Warrnambool for the South West Victorian Football Association, the club began considering a local social competition.
“Last year we struggled to field a side in away games in the South West league, as a lot of our players work six days a week,” Barnett said.
“So I've done a bit of a review over the summer on how can we make it more appealing to those types of people.
“In a conversation between myself and Grampians United, we said, ‘Well, why don't we look at running some type of social competition between the clubs?’.”
“We're at the stage now where we’re trying to attract numbers and get an idea of how many teams we're going to field for it.
“With the numbers, hopefully we'll have teams that can play out of Horsham, Stawell and Ararat.”
Barnett confirmed that junior players would remain with the South West Association to maintain their development pathways.
The club president noted that this year’s social competition could serve as a launching pad for a Football Victoria-recognised league in future seasons.
“The hope going forward is that the competition really takes off and then down the track we can have properly sanctioned competitions,” Barnett said.
“But we’re concentrating on the here and now of building that interest and creating a starting point.
Barnett added that the come-and-try day is open to all interested players, encouraging both new and experienced participants to attend.
“Friday will serve as a come-and-try as well as an information session,” Barnett said.
“It’s great if people do have questions, or want to meet people from the club and hear about where we’re heading, while also being quite casual with a barbecue available as well.
“The good thing about a more social competition is it takes a bit of pressure off, so it will be more appealing to people who have never played and want to try it.”