The announcement that the Bendigo Gold will fold at the end of the VFL season prompted the two organisations to come together to help promote and support the city’s budding sports stars.

Bendigo Spirit chairman Greg Bickley said unless the community supported sporting teams in Bendigo, they wouldn’t survive.

“There are sports here in Bendigo that are competing on the state and national stage and if we don’t support them then those pathways may not exist in the future,” he said.

Bickley said securing pathways for juniors to continue to rise through the ranks in Bendigo should be supported.

“Without supporting our juniors it very difficult for people to make it to the national level,” he said.

“It is something that doesn’t happen overnight, it needs support from broad sections of the community.”

FC Bendigo operations manager Brock Rogers said the new soccer club was providing a clear pathway for young players.

“FC Bendigo is a relatively new entity but we see the importance of creating those pathways for our juniors, which was our number one goal for creating the club,” he said.

“The community has got behind it but it is very much only the beginning of our club and we see that constant support from the community is important to achieving our goals.”

Rogers said building relationships with other Bendigo sports club was key to ensuring the opportunities for young players stay open.