Federal government puts $1.5m toward new Nightcliff Oval change rooms
The federal government has committed more than a million dollars towards new facilities at a Top End oval. Find out what it is.
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The federal government has committed $1.5m into the development of a new change room complex at Nightcliff Oval, aimed to provide an inclusive experience.
The funding from the Australian Government’s Play Our Way program will be supplemented by a further $250,000 from both City of Darwin and AFLNT.
The new change room facility will enable Nightcliff Football Club and Nightcliff Cricket Club to welcome new female players, umpires, coaches and volunteers.
Consultation showed 90 per cent of respondents agreed with AFL NT’s proposal to construct new change room facilities.
Darwin mayor Kon Vatskalis said City of Darwin and AFLNT were thrilled to receive the funding that would assist in achieving the objectives of the Nightcliff Oval Masterplan.
“A key project in the was the development of a new four-room change room complex, aimed at providing an inclusive environment for oval users,” he said.
“We will try to do the same in many other ovals but this is a good start.
“At the end of the day it’s not about the city council, it’s about the young people, the young women who participate in our sports.”
Solomon MP Luke Gosling said the rooms would provide new safe, accessible, inclusive, fit-for-purpose facilities for year-round use.
“This project will have a very positive effect for women and girls in our community promoting a greater opportunity to participate in sport and physical activity safely and comfortably,” he said.
AFLNT Facilities and Government Partnerships manager Katrina Kawaljenko said better change rooms would bring the club up to AFL standards.
“The change rooms here have been refurbished recently through a grant Nightcliff obtained but the reality is they are not suitable for AFL,” she said.
“They do not meet AFL standards with their facility guidelines, there’s not enough room for all the players to be in the room at the one time.
“What this means for all of the players here is that they’ll have state of the art change rooms that meet our guidelines and provide enough space and privacy.”
It was a sentiment shared by Nightcliff Premier League player Hayley Jones who was excited about the prospects for the club.
“(Having) an inclusive space that we can sort of call our own and go through our kind of team prep and creating a community of welcomeness and getting psyched up for a game - it’ll just create such a better environment,” she said.
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