Albury City Council has joined with the NSW Office of Sport and Boomers Football Club in co-funding a significant upgrade to the community facilities at Glen Park.
After a boom in registrations from girls and women over the past five years, the club’s facilities were strained and outdated.
“With more than 100 female players at our club and growing, we recognised the need to transform our club into a space where equal access and equal opportunity are present both on and off the field. In addition to players, many more girls and women support our club as referees, coaches, volunteers, and spectators, and our facilities were no longer fit-for-purpose," explained a Boomers FC spokesperson.
Prior to the upgrade, the two available change rooms were conjoined with the men’s toilets. There were no dedicated facilities for girls or women. Toilets were not available to the public, nor were they accessible for people with disabilities, mobility aids or prams.
The club has grown female participation 30% year-on-year since 2019, resulting in one of the highest ratios of female participation in the Albury Wodonga Football Association.
“AlburyCity is committed to working closely with Government and user groups to provide sporting facilities that are accessible to all community members, and encourage lifelong participation and enjoyment of the sport,” said AlburyCity Deputy Mayor Jessica Kellahan.
“This project represented a great value solution, retrofitting the existing social club room into a facility that will encourage the growth of football and the female game in Albury-Wodonga.”
This project continues the change room improvement works at AlburyCity sports grounds which aims to make the change rooms more gender friendly. Other minor works have been completed at Jelbart Park, Billson Park and Alexandra Park – Murrayfield on existing change rooms.
New facilities have also been constructed at Sarvaas and Melrose Park while temporary change rooms have been provided at Greenfield Park, Aloysious Park Urana Road Oval and Alexandra Park (Murrayfield) to address the change room shortage in the short term.
The NSW Football Legacy Fund granted Boomers Football Club $125,000 towards the $300,000 project with Boomers Football Club contributing $10,000 and the balance of funding provided by AlburyCity.
The project repurposed the existing clubhouse to create a new layout which includes three new accessible public toilets, two new change rooms, with dedicated toilets and showers, a referee office, meeting room and storage.
“Equal participation in our club goes beyond having women's and girls’ teams. It's about providing a facility that all members of the community feel accommodated, and families can enjoy a day at our grounds as spectators, volunteers and players," Club Vice President Anna Griffith said.
"Our club is equally invested in the development of boys and girls, equally invested in coaching for men and women and helping our whole club community enjoy the game. The upgrades to the facility now reflect the work we have carried out culturally to foster equality in the sport for our members, and they set a baseline that we can continue to build upon throughout the coming seasons.”
Boomers FC officially launched the new facilities at their home round on Sunday 30 March.