After nine years as "gypsies", Wollongong FC want a place to call home.
The Wolves - who play Sutherland in a title decider on Sunday - have spent most of the past decade without a permanent home ground, but are itching to play at Figtree's Lysaght Recreation Centre next year.
Wollongong FC haven't had a ground to call their own since they left their spiritual home Brandon Park in 2000.
Since then, they have played home games at WIN Stadium and Crehan Park - home of Illawarra Premier League outfit Cringila Lions.
However, with the club 90 minutes from taking up residence in the NSW Premier League penthouse, they want a home to match.
The club announced yesterday it wants to buy a share of Lysaght Recreation Ground - owned by Wollongong Sport and Recreation Centre - to bankroll completion of a grandstand at the Figtree venue.
That would ensure the ground is ready for the Wolves to play at in time for next year's competition.
However, Wollongong FC CEO Jock Morlando said the club would need to raise more than $500,000 and the club will launch a foundation membership drive on Monday.
Having a home base to call their own and the associated revenue from canteen sales and sponsorship signage, would help secure the club's future.
"We want to secure our future," Morlando said.
"We are not the owners of Lysaghts, we are a tenant."
Wollongong coach John Turner said the players were crying out for a ground to call their own after a season where they trained at half-a-dozen venues.
"To think this is an ex-NSL club, like (Premier League rivals) Marconi, Olympic or Sydney United and we don't have a home ground, it's a little bit embarrassing," Turner said.
"Crini (Crehan Park) is like an away game - we haven't had a training session there this season.
"They have been great to us, but its hard when you don't train on the ground you play on.
Earlier this year, construction at the Lysaghts ground forced the Wolves to organise training grounds on a week-to-week basis.
Those training ground woes have even been included in the team victory song.
Song leader Tynan Diaz "remixed" the song earlier this season to include the lines: "We play with heart, we play with fight. We train on a different pitch every night. And when we train there's one floodlight."
Although the club now trains at Lysaghts twice a week its lack of a training base was a disruption earlier this season.
"Come Sunday the boys would ask me 'where are we training on Tuesday'[DS]," Turner said.
"Some of the grounds we trained on this year had no showers, at others there were no sheds and the boys would have to leave their gear under a tree.
"The boys have done so, so well - I'm not here to bag anybody, but this has been very special when you consider what we train on and where we have come from."
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