Local netball’s need for infrastructure

NETBALL’S growth in the Barwon region continues to set a benchmark for leagues all over the state, but local sports governance body AFL Barwon has declared there is still work to be done for the sport’s local infrastructure.

As well as supporting the City of Greater Geelong’s call for a new regional indoor sports and events centre, AFL Barwon has urged the state government to provide necessary facilities to be built for the growing game.

“The Barwon region has recorded increases in netball participation each year since the COVID-19 pandemic,” AFL Barwon stated.

“This is not only due to the competitions being provided, but also assisted by the strong growth corridors in the region.

“The population increase in the Greater Geelong region is projected to rise by over 63,000 by 2033, and by around 114,000 people in 2041.

“If our netball competitions increase by even 1 per cent of the projected population growth over the next 10 years, we will have a projected increase of approximately 630 participants and roughly 63 teams.”

AFL Barwon revealed its netball participation numbers over the past 10 years has increased from 3,100 players to more than 5,700 participants.

There has also been a 9.4 per cent participation increase across all AFL Barwon competitions.

Team numbers in all competitions has risen from 335 in 2013, to 705 in 2023.

“There has been a severe lack of infrastructure development or improvements over this time to support the growth in participation,” AFL Barwon stated.

“The lack of facility support, and developments means some teams are on a training rotation roster.

“This growth in our competition could have been significantly higher with some team entries being denied due to being at facility capacity.

“AFL Barwon has also not had the opportunity to expand on diversifying competitions offerings.

“The capacity issues also led to All Abilities competitions being administered outside of AFL Barwon governance.”

The statement also noted the lack of infrastructure has hindered the growth and ability of the Geelong Netball Club, the region’s premier netball club.

“The lack of appropriate stadium has put our region well behind other regional Victoria towns.

“Ballarat and Bendigo both have indoor stadiums with capacities of 3,000 and 4,000 respectively.

“There is a clear desire and requirement for Geelong to have a stadium that matches or exceeds the capacity of these other regions considering the population size and projected growth.”