FACILITIES & ADVOCACY UNIT

FACILITIES DEVELOPMENT AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS

WE SAW ANOTHER FRUITFUL YEAR IN THE FACILITIES AND ADVOCACY UNIT IN 2021 DESPITE THE ONGOING CHALLENGES OF THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC, WITH INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT BLOSSOMING ACROSS THE STATE.

As players, spectators, referees, and volunteers endured more COVID-19 restrictions, facility upgrades and development continued, accompanied by various funding announcements throughout the year.

Early 2021 saw the launch of our tenth facility guide, Modular Sporting Facilities, thanks to our official modular partner, Ausco Modular. The release of the Guide appropriately followed the release of the NSW Football Infrastructure Strategy in late 2020. ‘Inclusive football facilities’ is one of five key pillars in our strategic framework, and with women comprising almost 25% of total participants in NSW, we understand the needs for more female friendly facilities. This, tied into the upcoming hosting of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup where we expect female numbers to spike, facility development becomes crucial for the growth of the game.

Football clubs rejoiced across Greater Sydney in 2021 with $10 million in funding received from Round 1 of the Greater Cities Sports Facility Fund. Football funding was spread throughout Greater Sydney, to as far south as Fairy Meadow (Illawarra United Stingrays), spanning west in the Bankstown region (Padstow), and into Sydney’s northwest region (Kenthurst Park). The funding from the NSW Government will assist our football clubs in meeting the future demand of the largest sport in NSW and Australia. The NSW Football Infrastructure Strategy recognises that football demand is already surpassing existing facility supply. If action is not taken now to plan and develop infrastructure for the coming decade, the gap will widen and opportunities to play will be lost.

2021 was a year of firsts for many football associations across the facilities space. Nepean Football Association received their two synthetic fields at Jamison Park, a project that has been in the association’s pipeline for many years.

The Hills Shire Council has approved the ‘Caddies Creek Sports Complex – Stage 2 Masterplan’ to build Hills Football their longawaited ‘Home of Football’. The Home of Football is an ideal location to support the continued increase in participation that the region is enjoying as part of the North West growth corridor. During the COVID-19 lockdown period the Facilities and Advocacy Unit provided an online grants webinar for clubs and associations across NSW. The webinar presented by ‘The Grants Guy’ (Keith Whelan) was a great success with over 100 participants. The webinar provided all Football NSW clubs and associations with valuable information to assist in their pursuit of funding for facility upgrades. Further webinars are planned in 2022 with a grants guide also to be published in the new year. After leading the country with the development of a Facilities Audit and Database four years ago, Football Australia have developed a National Football Facilities Database that brings together all member federations into one national database. This is a great step forward for the sport in the country. Having already completed our initial facilities audit, this has been a seamless transition for Football NSW, with the key now to ensure that associations and clubs across NSW continue to update the database as facility upgrades are completed at their venue. The more information and data we have on each of the 2000+ fields in NSW will greatly assist in sourcing further funding for football clubs.

Regional football scored a few goals in 2021. The NSW Government announced $750,000 for a talent identification and youth development program for three years, which will ensure the next generation of girls and young women in regional NSW have the same level of access to coaching and support as their metropolitan peers, as they strive to represent Australia on the world stage.

On a facility front, the home of Orange District Football, Sir Jack Brabham Park, received $108,000 for a lighting upgrade at the site from the highly competitive ‘Club Grants Category 3 – Infrastructure Grants Program’. The upgrade of lighting will allow Orange District Football to run a female midweek competition in 2022.

Other infrastructure upgrades that occurred in 2021 included:

• New synthetic fields in the Football St George Association at Brighton Memorial Playing Fields and J. Graham Field thanks to the $28 million invested by the NSW Government from the M6 Stage 1 project. Several new sport and recreation facilities have opened in Sydney’s South ahead • Wentworth Falls FC from Nepean FA had their brand-new amenities building completed at Pitt Park.

• New synthetic fields at Gardiner Park and

Arncliffe Park in Football St George.

• Penrith City Council, in conjunction with funding from both state and federal government, upgraded several football amenity buildings to ensure they are now female friendly for the future.

• Major upgrades at Henley Park, Rudd

Park and Tempe Reserve in the Canterbury

District Soccer Football Association.

2022 will be another exciting year on the infrastructure front with the NSW Government providing funding opportunities through the Multi-Sport Community Facility Fund and Centre of Excellence Fund in addition to regular funding programs.

Football NSW continues discussions with Football Australia and the NSW Government around the development of a World Cup Legacy Fund, which would provide significant opportunities around infrastructure upgrades to ensure increased capacity for the next generation of footballers in NSW.