Politicians cautious about FFA call for more money for grassroots facilities
Political leaders have responded cautiously to Football Federation Australia’s lobbying campaign for greater spending on grassroots facilities.
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Political leaders have responded cautiously to Football Federation Australia’s lobbying campaign for greater spending on grassroots facilities, despite pleas for a $300m boost for antiquated and inadequate fields and changing rooms.
Officials from FFA held talks with advisers to both the Federal Sports Minister and her Labor shadow on Wednesday in Canberra, and will write to all state sports ministers in the coming days to make their case that the sport is suffering from a $500m funding gap.
The hope is for spending commitments in the run up to state and federal elections this year, and part of the case is based on football’s popularity as the most-played sport at grassroots level, with FFA claiming the sport receives roughly a third of public expenditure per participant compared with AFL, rugby and football.
But a spokesman for Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie pointed to $60m of capital funding from the Community Sporting Infrastructure Grants program and said the Federal Government was wary of committing more funding to one specific sport, despite football claiming a participant base of some 1.8m people.
“The nation’s first sports plan — Sports 2030 — highlights increasing participation of all Australians in sport and physical activity as a priority for the Liberal Nationals Government,” he said.
“While we recognise the popularity of football (soccer), it is important to recognise that different people want to play different sports.
“By supporting a variety of sports, people are given a choice, more likely to pick a sport that interests them personally, leading to increased participation by all Australians.”
NSW Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres similarly noted a range of expenditure on grassroots projects, including the surplus from the 2015 Asian Cup.
“We are doing everything we can as a Government and I would ask councils to do the same,” Ayres said. “While state government funds are available, ultimately local facilities are the responsibility of local councils, the same as state owned facilities are the responsibility of the state government.
“Councils need to be investing in upgraded local facilities to meet increasing demand. I would also encourage councils to look a different construction options such as modular buildings which may represent a cost and time efficient way to expand existing facilities.”
The shadow federal minister for sport, Don Farrell, responded positively to the call for more football funding, saying Labor was committed to “breaking down barriers to participation (that) include limited facilities and lack of pitch time.
“Football is a great grassroots sport and participation is only going to continue to increase as the game grows and a new generation are inspired by the Matildas and Socceroos.
“Labor speaks very regularly with football stakeholders (and) we will continue to support football in Australia, as we did in declaring our support for the 2023 Women’s World Cup Bid.”
His NSW counterpart Lynda Voltz suggested that football could be one of the beneficiaries of Labor’s policy to abandon the rebuilding of Allianz and ANZ Stadiums.
“As a coach of a girls’ soccer team it is frustrating to see 12 teams trying to train on one and a half football pitches, while down the road two fields remain unlit and unused,” she said.
“It is a pity the current government has the wrong priorities for funding, putting stadiums ahead of grassroots sport, a future Labor Government will always put grassroots sports funding ahead of spending billions on stadiums.”