The City of Casey and the Melbourne Football Club are very proud of the ground-breaking 30 year partnership, and today we celebrate this unique partnership. 

The Melbourne Football Club and City of Casey partnership is testament to the effort put in by many people with a common ambition - to connect to, and become part of, the Casey community.

The community partnership involves a host of wonderful programs, and has been estimated to have reached more than 40,000 Casey residents through a variety of forums during the first twelve months of the agreement.

Many young children in Casey are reading like Demons, thanks to our Read Like a Demon literacy program, being delivered through the Casey-Cardinia Library Corporation.

Players from the Mornington Peninsula Nepean Football League are undertaking the “Don’t Drive Like a Demon” road safety program, while students from 20 primary schools participate in the “kicking Goals” program - a values based program which focuses on leadership, respect, team work, harmony and fair play.

Sports development has also been a key focus of the partnership; Melbourne Football Club has hosted a number of coach the coach sessions, Auskick super clinics and footy activities for local junior clubs.

In addition, the Casey business community has been actively engaged through the Casey Business Forums, profiling local businesses and providing key networking opportunities.

The facilities at Casey Fields are second to none;  the recent Casey Fields pavilion extension to develop the ‘Melbourne Campus’ at a cost of $2.1 million was funded via a partnership involving the City of Casey, the AFL, Melbourne Football Club and the State Government, through Sport and Recreation Victoria.   The development provides improved player facilities to support training for both the Casey Scorpions and Melbourne Football Clubs, and complements the existing first class playing surface to provide the Melbourne Football Club with premier training facilities.

The City of Casey continues to grow at the staggering rate of nearly 8,000 people per year, and will ultimately reach a population of over 375,000, as big as Canberra is today.  This provides significant opportunities for the Melbourne Football Club, and we are committed to genuinely connecting with the Casey community and implementing new activities, programs and initiatives that benefit all.  We look forward to a shared future with great anticipation.

Before Saturday’s game, 40 children from the Read Like a Demon literacy program will form a guard of honour for the team as they enter the arena.  The Demon Heartland community bay will be packed with over 500 families from schools participating in this program, and City of Casey Mayor, Cr Lorraine Wreford, will toss the coin before the game.

Fittingly, the Demons’ most recent on-field connection to the City of Casey, Berwick’s Tom Scully, is this week’s AFL Rising Star nominee.