Avondale FC has experienced a rapid transformation on and off the pitch in recent seasons.
Its rise from the state leagues to NPL football includes multiple promotions and mid-table consolidation in the state’s top flight in 2015.
Coupled with this has been the club’s ability to attract high-profile signings such as A-League players Massimo Murdocca and Jonatan Germano.
Now, the club is approaching the 2016 season with a new kit and moniker – the Avengers.
This adds to the move to play home games nearby Knights Stadium, home of Merlbourne Knights, in 2016.
Avondale president Anthony Nuzacco said plans had been put in place to enhance a number of off-field aspects of the club to match its on-field progress in recent seasons.
“When we appointed Gideon Sweet as our Football Operations Manager two weeks ago, we wanted one of his main focuses to be to create a better match day experience as most NPL clubs don’t have anything going on pre-match, half-time or around the ground,” Nuzacco said.
“One of the ideas was to create a mascot and with that came with the idea of a club nickname. We don’t have a nickname like other clubs and thought it would be good to create something that resembles the club and also allows us to create a mascot to interact with the kids on matchday.”
He credits the Avengers name as paying homage to its once unlikely rise up the Victorian football heirarchy.
“The Avengers is a perfect fit for the club as we have always battled against the odds year after year and have continued to exceed expectations of the wider football community. So we thought the link to the Avengers fit perfectly,” he said.
“It won’t be an official name, just a nickname people can mention which represents the club. Hopefully we can reveal the mascot on our Family Day (February 14th) and on our first home game (February 26th).”