President of the Melbourne Knights, Pave Jusup talks to 3XY

Pave Jusup, President of Melbourne Knights soccer club, spoke to the Sports Sunday program on 3XY about the cancellation of the soccer season this year.
The FV made the logical decision to end the season due to the Covid-19 circumstances and restrictions and Pave agreed that this was the right thing to do.
He knows there’s a few clubs out there that couldn’t get promoted and some would have been disappointed they couldn’t win the league.Pave agreed with the rules that the FV had introduced, however his only concern with this, was that those rules that were put in place should only apply for this current situation, which is Covid-19. He doesn’t want those rules to apply for any other circumstance which would cause angst amongst clubs mid-way through the season. He believes these rules should have been in place from last year by the FV.When asked about his thoughts about expanding the NPL 2 from 12 to 14 teams, he replied by saying that it’s something that can happen and by adding 2 more teams they cannot have the relegation system. However, they haven’t heard anything back from the FV so far.Covid-19 has had a huge impact on the Melbourne Knights, like many other clubs too, affecting sponsors, supporters, volunteers and players wanting to get back into it and become involved, especially the social aspect. Last year they played only 5 games and this year they played 17 games. They can see this coming to an end and all the supporters, sponsors and all involved are eager to get back to the club and support them once again.Plans for the 2022 season for Melbourne Knights is to continue strengthening the squad, retaining the current coach and looking for new sponsors to support them. They have advocates working on a Government grant, similar to Oakleigh, in upgrading their current facilities.Pave Jusup finished off by saying that Melbourne Knights, like many other big clubs, such as South Melbourne and Heidelberg, are working towards being involved with the National Second Division. All these clubs need to become involved with the highest competition to bring back the sponsors and the huge crowds.