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One of the big challenges for the round ball game as it continues to build its footprint across Australia is to improve the state of its facilities, but this is a subject that should be firmly on the table for discussion.
As the game grows and there is a greater need for more parks to accommodate the growing number of participants and games, so the need to influence and get the appropriate funding and support for football facilities grows.
Whether that be about extra park-space, better turf, better lighting, better change rooms, or amenities blocks, there is a clear need to improve the state of the game’s facilities.
And it’s happening. While I can’t speak for the entire country, what I can see happening out in the west of Sydney is a massive improvement.
Take Blacktown for example. In recent years we’ve seen the birth of what is now know as Blacktown Football Park at Rooty Hill, a beautiful little boutique facility used by the Blacktown Spartans club for their National Premier League and Skills Acquisition Program games.
Not only does it feature a synthetic pitch, but the grandstand and amenities areas are modern.
Across the road is the Blacktown International Sportspark, which plays host to the Western Sydney Wanderers and a couple of football academies, and while it is shared with other sports, the facilities there are being constantly upgraded, and the grounds are being kept in better condition.
Up the road, in Seven Hills, there’s Lily’s Homes Stadium, home of fellow NPL club Blacktown City, which has recently undergone a major uplift in its facilities, now featuring a synthetic pitch which can be divided into eight smaller five-a-side pitches.
They’re in constant use, whether for NPL or SAP training, academy training, or five-a-side social competitions.
Only a kilometre or two away is the Hills Sports High which features a synthetic pitch used year-round, not only by the students at the school, but teams in the NPL, W-League, and development academies.
Go past any of these grounds, on almost any afternoon or evening during the week, and they’re a hive of activity.
There’s little doubt this is being replicated across other parts of the country, both outdoor and indoor.
Further up the road in Parklea are the headquarters of Football NSW, Valentine Sports Park. Recently they unveiled their new Futsal facilities, a great little court featuring a grandstand and adjoining cafe.
Tomorrow that cafe plays host to the state body’s inaugural facilities forum, which, among other things, addresses how to better maintain grass pitches.
While there has been a trend in Sydney towards synthetic pitches, and we’ve seen them pop up in Sutherland, Manly, Blacktown, Edensor Park and even Arlington Oval in the inner city (a community facility), the importance of maintaining the grass pitches won’t be lost on anyone playing on the “concrete” pitches of winter.
The other significant part of the forum is about helping football family members better lobby local government for facilities and access.
I saw an example of this at play this season when taken on a tour of a new amenities block built by local council at the home ground of Rydalmere FC.
The club, growing from strength to strength, now into State League 1 and featuring junior teams in the Regional League next season, had to lobby hard for the new facilities.
But in the end, the power of their growing junior numbers won out.
More broadly, the power of football’s growing participation rates now and in the future is being used by Football NSW to sell the message of better facilities to the state government, and forms a big part of their Facilities Strategic Plan 2014-2024.
It cites, for example, that “FNSW has 22 per cent more players than other NSW football codes combined”. Then it dissects population projections.
With almost 50 per cent of the Australia’s registered footballers coming from NSW, clearly it has a big part to play in the move to better facilities, but so does the FFA and the other state bodies.
This is an important subject that deserves more broad attention over the next decade, but for now I’m keen to hear what you’ve noticed about the football facilities in your local area, or old school, in recent times, and what you’d like to see.
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