Vision to shape future sporting facilities

GENDER neutral, accessible player and umpire changerooms across Greater Geelong football and netball facilities will be a 10-year goal, under the final G21 and AFL Barwon Towards 2030 Strategy.

AFL Barwon, in partnership with the city and other G21 region local government authorities, commissioned the development of the Towards 2030 Strategy.

The final strategy, which details the future directions and investment priorities for the sports over the next 10 years, has been presented to the City of Greater Geelong with changes made following public exhibition and consultation.

G21 chief executive officer Giulia Baggio said the strategy had highlighted a range of issues for our football and netball communities in the G21 region, “particularly related to a strong growth in participation and a female footy boom”.

“We must continue to drive participation and enhance the experience of all participants, providing high quality and inclusive facilities,” she said.

“We want every person who plays netball and footy in our region to feel comfortable and welcome.”

AFL football and netball across the region has increased significantly over the past five years, with an overall growth of 38 per cent including an increase of 424 per cent in women’s football, while also retaining high participation levels in netball.

Regional and local issues specific to Greater Geelong include the changeroom design standards, development of partnerships with schools to advocate for access to facilities and collaborative investment in school facilities where increased use can be demonstrated.

Sports lighting to assist in meeting demand for playing fields and courts, and continuing to provide more sporting fields and netball courts are also key to the 10-year strategy.

Cr Anthony Aitken acknowledged the Toward 2030 document was a refresh of an existing strategy which included sports lighting in the infrastructure ranking, as well as the increase in female participation in football.

Cr Aitken said the new strategy was important in assisting the council to prioritise projects, and through the sports facility ranking system, provided “a good opportunity to look at who has enough and who doesn’t have enough”.

He said a similar strategy and facility ranking would benefit other sports such as soccer with applying for funding, particularly for upgrades such as female-friendly facilities.

“We need a document like this to give a clear direction of where to focus our resources,” Cr Aitken said.

Cr Peter Murrihy agreed that the overall strategy and particularly the rating system greatly assisted the council with allocating funding.

He said it was also important to acknowledge not only the data included, but also the information that was missing from the strategy because most of the “facts and figures are pre-COVID”.

Cr Murrihy said COVID-19 had a huge impact on sporting clubs, and its impact on communities should not be underestimated.

The strategy was included in the City of Greater Geelong’s October meeting agenda.