Grassroots soccer needs more funding after Matildas’ success

The Matildas’ World Cup success has sparked calls for further funding at the grassroots level but our future stars are facing an uphill battle. We go inside their battle.

Soccer clubs across the state fear they won’t be able to keep up with expected surge in female players due to growing access issues.

While Victoria is the nation’s leader in access to female friendly change rooms at 69 per cent, conditions on pitches are one of the biggest challenges.

As the number of players continue to grow, teams are being forced to train in smaller areas while others are being forced to train on grounds with poor lighting.

The issue came to a head earlier this month when a junior player in Geelong was treated by paramedics under iPhone torches due to poor lighting at a Bell Park venue.

The Darebin Falcons, a female one club in Melbourne’s northern suburbs, is one of those already concerned about the challenges that lay ahead.

Jasmine Hirst, the club’s head of soccer, revealed the club was already fielding over 500 players in more than 30 junior and senior teams.

Cleo Paris (10), Acclaim Ralifo (9), Sophie Henriksson (10), Tsifira (Ralifo (9) and Grace Shepherd (9). Picture: Jake Nowakowski

The Falcons also already have a waiting list on their Mini Roos program for girls aged 4 to 9.

“We had four inquiries for new players in our Facebook inbox during the Matildas’ quarter-final alone,” she said.

“We’re bursting at the seams of our current ground, we’ve got a couple of muddy pitches that really need updating.

“Teams get a quarter of the pitch each, we’re training every night of the week, and we’re playing all day Sunday.

“The traffic on them is enormous. The council is looking at upgrading those in this current financial year.

“But everyone is strapped for cash at all the government levels at the moment so there’s probably not enough to do it to the level that it needs to be with all the traffic that we have plus the extra people we’re expecting.”

The City of Darebin is also the location of the Home of the Matildas at La Trobe University in Bundoora, a precinct which costs more than $100m.

The $155.5m invested into Victoria by the state and federal governments for the Women’s World Cup was by far the biggest in the state, but just 16.1 per cent of the funding was spent on community facilities.

On a local level, a City of Darebin spokesperson said its Outdoor Sports Infrastructure Framework helped “guide and inform the future needs for all sporting facilities”.

The Matildas popularity has grown. (Photo by Jenny Evans/Getty Images)

“The most recent review of this framework has incorporated a priority of female friendly facilities, which will prioritise those lacking in this core need,” they said.

“Projects for facility upgrades always undertake an Equity Impact Assessment/Gender Impact Assessment.

“Council has levels of service standards for all pitches which fall into various levels of classifications for how they are maintained. This reflects the clubs using these pitches/facilities and their level of use and competition.”

Geelong Galaxy secretary Marina Krasic said the female club was already “definitely” facing a ground shortage with more players keen to pull on the boots next season.

“There has already been an increase in inquiries to our club for next season and we are aware that many clubs are experiencing the same,” she said.

“Currently Geelong Galaxy does not have grounds allocated to them, the club since inception back in 2014 has had to sub-let and hire grounds which is far from ideal.

“With potential investment in the region the club is hoping that as the regions representative Female NPL club it will be given top priority for investment into sporting facilities and fair access.”

The Matildas World Cup run has sparked calls for further funding at grassroots level. (Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

City of Greater Geelong mayor Trent Sullivan said it had had been forecast before the World Cup an additional 1500 people would take up soccer of futsal across the region over the next 10 years.

“The growth in participation is fantastic and something we want to continue to support, but without doubt councils across Australia will face challenges keeping pace with the need for new and upgraded facilities,” he said.

“Councils everywhere will need to work closely with the state and federal governments to find funding to enable us to meet the demand.”

Merri-bek Council, which describes itself as a “leader in supporting non-traditional sports like soccer” admitted it was as aware of the challenges that lay ahead.

“We know that with increasing demand and population growth, there will not be enough sports fields over the next two decades in inner Melbourne,” acting mayor Helen Davidson said.

“With limited amounts of open space, we want to maximise the use of sports grounds by our community for a range of activities.”