For many members, the moment they fell in love with the Wanderers can be traced back to a single moment; a cold night at Cook Park or the moment the crest was unveiled. For Scott Payer, the love began after a conversation with his local federal member.
Payer is a known pilgrim for football in Western Sydney and is proudly involved with the Mount Druitt Town Rangers and a father of four. His involvement with the football club saw him get into regular discussion with local federal member Ed Husic, who had been asked to become a patron of the club.
It wasn’t long after Husic’s patronage of the Town Rangers that he simply sent a message to Payer saying, “I am about to ask Federal Parliament for an A-League team in Western Sydney” and that is simply where the love began.
A month later, Payer was taking “kids from the training pitch to the forums that were being held”.
Payer had even suggested the idea that the Wanderers should be called the Rangers to represent the Great Dividing Range that Western Sydney is geographically situated on.
When the season had begun, Payer and his family and friends assembled a group of 28 and he recalled his ticket number starting from the number six with “seats located proudly in Bay 6”.
“It has become a family event for us, for our wives and for our kids. It’s a social outing for us all.
“We hop onto the train as we live in the Penrith region, wander in and make a whole day out of it” he explained.
A steamroll of success then ensued both on and off the field with Payer reflecting on the journey of the club keeping his son very intrigued, setting himself the task of getting every single foundation players signature on his jersey – a prized piece of history now.
“It’s a sense of community and providing to what will hopefully be a legacy for not just right now but for a hundred years time.
“There is a star that shines so bright above the emblem for the rest of eternity” he said.
It wasn’t long then after Payer and many of his family and friends secured a total of 28 memberships that they quickly realized they would need many more.
The Wanderers family atmosphere began to appeal to people. “Build it and they would come” he quipped.
“We now have over 40 memberships so that we can all sit in one happy group.
“It’s a social environment and we have a couple of small pockets of groups of people. You can come see us at half-time and find us all standing in the aisles talking about the game and just life in general.
“We wouldn’t normally catch up as often as we do except for the Wanderers experience and this is across a decade or two of families”.
The Wanderers next chapter in their journey has seen a temporary change in stadium to Sydney Olympic Park but nothing will chage for Payer who has kept his Wanderers family together and is looking forward “to creating new memories for years to come”.
We’ve already reached over 16,000 Members for this season. Becoming a Wanderer is easy, simply head to www.wanderland.com.au.
