Adelaide Jaguars Soccer Club in bid for $6.5m redevelopment of Jubliee Reserve

Dodgy lighting, a pitch it can’t use for senior matches, and coaches keeping stuff in their cars – one Adelaide soccer club is hoping to change all that.

Adelaide Jaguars Women's Soccer Club players Abrihet, Aria, Bam and Jasmine, all 11, at the Jublilee Reserve with Bronny Brooks. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Forced to endure flooded pitches, dangerous lighting and leave equipment out in the open, SA’s largest female-only soccer club is on the verge of winning a new, permanent home.

The Adelaide Jaguars Women’s Soccer, which boasts 350 members, is seeking council approval for a $6.5m redevelopment of its home base at Jubilee Reserve in West Lakes.

Chairperson Bronny Brooks said the club’s grounds have inadequate lighting creating dangerous training conditions, while it has just 2x8m storage space – forcing coaches to use their cars for equipment. It can’t even use its primary pitch for senior matches.

Jubilee Reserve Redevelopment. Picture: Keryn Stevens

Difficult playing and training conditions and damaged pitches prone to flooding in winter, as faced by the Adelaide Jaguars women's soccer club. Picture: Supplied

“We don’t have any actual facilities, so we have nowhere to hold meetings,” Ms Brooks said.

“We have nowhere to train volunteers. We have nowhere to connect as a community.”

With no dedicated clubroom, the club is forced to leave equipment and assets out in the open, while the grounds are prone to flooding, which damages the playing surface.

If approved, the new club would feature upgraded community spaces and improved lighting, female-friendly change rooms and a dedicated club room and realigned grounds that meet competition standards.

The club would also have more access for training spaces and match day amenities that meet competition standards.

Difficult playing and training conditions and damaged pitches prone to flooding in winter, as faced by the Adelaide Jaguars women's soccer club. Picture: Supplied

Adelaide Jaguars have just a 2x8m storage area. Picture: Supplied

“We have to go elsewhere to play senior games because it (the pitch) doesn’t meet the standard that our players need for those senior games,” Ms Brooks said.

However, she said the club was fighting “misinformation” about their plan.

She said there was no masterplan and claims about a 200-seat stadium was incorrect.

Public consultation is on now to seek ideas about a plan, she said.

“There is no stadium, no grandstand, no concept - we want to clarify our intent and make clear the actual facts around it,” she said.

Ms Brooks said the club has “searched everywhere” across Adelaide without success.

“Every time we have a meeting with somebody, we’ve always been told, ‘no’, there’s no space … or it’s not user-friendly or we can’t fit women and girls,” she explained.

Some of the inadequate lighting and dangerous training conditions faced by the Adelaide Jaguars. Picture: Supplied

Jubliee is used by thousands of other young soccer players and multiple other sporting clubs, which fear they will be pushed out.

North West Junior Soccer Association chairperson Lou Tramontin last month “a third of the oval” could be lost, which would be up to 400 kids.

But Ms Brooks said the redeveloped facility would pose no risk to other sporting or community clubs, and be open for public use outside club hours.

The redevelopment has already received crucial funding with Mark Butler MP and the federal government making a $5m investment pledge, alongside a $1.5m pledge from the Charles Sturt Council.

She said the new facilities would be used for a range of initiatives including hosting female health and leadership workshops, expanding the ‘Play On’ program for women over 35, and host physical activity groups for mums and toddlers.

Public consultation closes on November 19.