Barwon Soccer Club scores new changerooms

THE Barwon Soccer Club now has more room to grow thanks to the completion of a gender-neutral changeroom at their home ground at Grovedale Recreation Reserve.

South Barwon MP Darren Cheeseman joined representatives from the 480-strong club and City of Greater Geelong councillors Trent Sullivan and Ron Nelson to officially open the new facilities last week.

Before the pandemic, Barwon Soccer Club had seen a boom in numbers, with almost 80 women and girls now playing for the club, and the previous club rooms were struggling to meet the demand.

With community sport now back, the new change room is equipped to cater for both male and female players, providing space for the club to grow participation, particularly for women and girls, juniors and all abilities players.

There are also new access pathways and two new storage areas.

The new facilities now meet Football Victoria standards, allowing the club to host more training and competition games at the reserve.

Funding for the upgrades comprised more than $390,000 from the City of Greater Geelong and a $150,000 investment from the Victorian government’s Community Sports Infrastructure Fund, and the Barwon Soccer Club also kicked in more than $21,000.

“The new facilities are fantastic for us and will make a huge difference to our club, and our junior football programs, in particular through the provision of safer and more inclusive club rooms,” Barwon Soccer Club president Colin Drain said.

The Victorian government says it has invested more than $1.1 billion in community sport and recreation infrastructure since 2014.

This includes the recent $55 million spend in the budget towards sports infrastructure investments to deliver new and improved community sports infrastructure across the state, with a particular focus on providing facilities to encourage participation among women and girls through the Female Friendly Facilities Fund.

“For too long, clubs like Barwon Soccer Club have been hamstrung by outdated facilities – they deserve appropriate facilities they can be proud of,” Mr Cheeseman said.

“The new change room provides a real incentive for Barwon Soccer Club to ramp up training and development and for local women, men, boys and girls to join in the fun.

“Better sport and recreation facilities make it easier for Victorians to get back to local sport and recreation when it is safe to do so and lead healthy and active lifestyles.”

For more information about infrastructure grant opportunities available through the Victorian government, head to the Sport and Recreation Victoria website.