Football bosses want to make fight for facilities an election issue

Football bosses hope the need for more spending on grassroots facilities will become an election issue at the state and federal polls due this year, buoyed by surveys showing voters are likely to be swayed by such pledges.

FFA boss David Gallop. Picture: AAP

• Grassroots football hits crisis point
• Female footballers pay price for changing times

Football bosses hope the need for more spending on grassroots facilities will become an election issue at the state and federal polls due this year, buoyed by surveys showing voters are likely to be swayed by such pledges.

Seventy per cent of voters in NSW polled said they would be extremely or very likely to support a party that improved local football facilities, and a further 24 per cent said they were likely to, in a survey of more than 8500 players around the country.

Football Federation Australia officials will argue that the size of the game’s participation base makes it an important constituency, as they seek to bridge what FFA estimates is a $500m funding shortfall for the sport’s facilities across the country.

More than half of that, as identified by a national audit of facilities, is in NSW, home to the biggest proportion of players in the country and where voters go to the polls next month.

FFA has also compiled figures showing football receives only $37 per participant from government spending, while AFL, rugby union and rugby league all receive roughly three times as much.

FFA boss David Gallop. Picture: AAP

A delegation of FFA officials met with politicians in Canberra on Wednesday, seeking “partnership” funding from national, state and local government, as well as clubs, of around $300m to address the shortfall.

One of the points being made to politicians on all sides is that the majority of projects identified in the facilities audit have been costed at less than $100,000.

Spending significantly less can make a major difference to individual clubs, with knock-on benefits in the local community.

Marrickville’s Fraser Park before the installation of a synthetic pitch.

In 2015 St Clair United Soccer Club in Sydney’s West was awarded $25,000 by the NSW Government to upgrade the floodlighting at the Mark Leece Sporting Complex where its more than 60 teams train and play.

“Previously our lights weren’t enough for training let alone playing matches at night — now we can do both,” said club registrar Julie Thompson.

“We are quite a large club with a lot of members, and they all want to train on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. The lighting not only means they can, but the ground staff can do the necessary maintenance out of hours from their own jobs on Monday and Friday evenings.

“The whole site feels a lot safer because the lighting is so strong, that’s a big thing for our members in feeling comfortable coming here at night — and the netball club that plays on the court next door can also use it at night because that gets lit up too.”