Bell Park Sports Club backed by local council

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The City of Greater Geelong Council has made a significant investment towards Bell Park Sports Club, showing its commitment for grassroots.
Image credit: Bell Park Sports Club

The City of Greater Geelong Council has made a significant investment towards Bell Park Sports Club, showing its commitment to assist the growth of grassroots sport in the south-west of Victoria.

At the home of Bell Park Sports Club, which is located in Batesford, the agreement involves the purchase of land by the City of Greater Geelong, providing enormous long-term opportunities.

The deal is worth around $2.5 million, which includes a contribution from approximately $820,000 from the state government and roughly $1.7 million from the City of Greater Geelong.

City of Greater Geelong Councillor, Eddy Kontelj:

“This announcement and partnership between the City of Greater Geelong Council and the Bell Park Sports Club, from my information, is unprecedented in Geelong,” he said to Soccerscene.

“The Bell Park Sports Club has a proud history and has been providing soccer facilities for the local community for more than 60 years and continues to cater to hundreds of junior and senior players.

“This agreement is financially sound and will ensure we have sporting facilities to meet the future needs of our growing Geelong population – the entire community will be the beneficiary of this investment in the world game.”

The funding will be used to upgrade facilities and add in female-friendly change rooms in an attempt to encourage more young females to get involved in sports.

A lighting upgrade will also be a special feature of the developments, valued at around $630,000 with funding coming from the Victorian Government.

“If we are serious and sincere in our endeavours to achieve true equality in sport and our society, them it is imperative that all players, regardless of gender, have the same opportunities and quality facilities in order to succeed,” Kontelj said.

“It shows a strong message when we do not compromise on facilities or investment just because of gender. To do so is not ok.”

Cr Kontelj believes that the investment will have a positive effect on the Geelong community in the coming years, and that investing in infrastructure encourages those affiliated with grassroots to get more involved in sports.

“Geelong is a sporting city, however, we can only retain that reputation by delivering and retaining facilities in key growth areas and also continuing to maintain faculties to a very good standard in well-established suburbs and areas in the Geelong region,” he said.

“It is well proven that having people, particularly our youth, participate and engage in well supported team environments and sporting/physical activities has benefits well beyond physical fitness.

“It provides an opportunity to establish lifelong friendships and comradery, it opens up the doors to mentoring and coaching, instils discipline and routine, provides pathways to athletic and sporting success and also helps with maintaining good mental health.

“However, for a community to benefit from all of this, we need to invest in the infrastructure to encourage diverse and welcoming participation. The City of Greater Geelong Council’s investment in the Bell Park Sports Club is an example of just this.

“The entire community will be the beneficiary of this investment in the world game.”

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More than 220 coaches attend Football South Australia’s second NOVA Youth Club Championship workshop

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Image Credit: FQ

Football South Australia drew more than 220 coaches to its second NOVA Youth Club Championship Coaches Workshop in late May, underlining the scale of engagement clubs are generating through the state’s restructured youth competition framework.

The online session was facilitated by Football SA Technical Director Michael Cooper, who also serves as Junior Matildas Head Coach. Cooper shared observations from the AFC U17 Women’s Asian Cup and Australia’s qualification for the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, giving club-level coaches a window into the demands and standards of elite international football.

The presenter line-up extended that international lens further. Lachlan Tosh and Cristiano Dos Santos spoke to their experiences in national tournament environments, while legendary Australian coach Tom Sermanni addressed the fundamentals of youth coaching. Colin Sanctuary from the University of Newcastle examined coaching language and its direct influence on player learning.

Themes running across the session included the primacy of long-term player development over short-term results, with presenters consistently emphasising technique, ball mastery, individual improvement, and decision-making under pressure. Coaches were encouraged to expose players to varied styles of play, facilitate practice outside organised training, and help young players retain possession longer in match conditions.

Post-session feedback pointed to strong practical value, with coaches singling out clear communication, relationship-building, and age-appropriate feedback as key takeaways.

The workshop series sits within the broader transition from the Youth Premier League to the Club Championship model, which ties coaching participation to championship points for clubs and CPD credits toward individual coaching diplomas. Six workshops are scheduled across the season, with four still to come.

1200 players to descend on Geelong for Football Victoria Country Championships as Regional Football Enters New Era

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Image Credit: Football Victoria

More than 1,200 junior footballers from across regional Victoria will converge on Geelong this weekend for the 2026 Football Victoria Country Championships, with players representing eight regions competing across the King’s Birthday long weekend at Stead Park and Myers Reserve.

The tournament, which has been running since 1978 and has grown into one of the largest junior football events in the country, takes on additional significance this year. It marks the first Country Championships since Football Victoria announced a restructured regional football model in December 2025, making this edition an early measure of how that new framework translates into competitive outcomes at the representative level.

Sixty-seven teams will compete across Under-11 to Under-16 age groups for both boys and girls, with finals day scheduled for Monday. All fixtures and results will be available through the DRIBL app.

More than silverware

FV Regional Development Manager Lauren Stevens said the tournament represented something beyond the competitive results it produces.

“The Country Championships are an exciting opportunity for players from across regional Victoria to come together, represent their region and create lasting memories both on and off the pitch,” Stevens said. “This tournament has a rich history and continues to play an important role in bringing regional football communities together while providing players with the chance to experience a high-level representative environment and talent identification opportunity.”

That dual function is central to what makes the Country Championships structurally significant. For many players travelling to Geelong this weekend, a regional representative tournament is the highest level of football they have experienced. For some, it will be the environment in which they first come to the attention of Football Victoria’s technical staff and pathway programs.

The talent identification dimension carries particular weight at a moment when Football Victoria’s participation numbers are at record levels and the pipeline from community football to elite competition has never been more closely scrutinised. The 2025 Annual Report documented a 14 percent overall participation increase, with junior football among the fastest-growing segments. Tournaments like the Country Championships are where that growth begins to translate into representative opportunity for players who live outside metropolitan Melbourne.

Regional football in transition

The timing of this year’s Championships against the backdrop of Football Victoria’s regional restructure adds a layer of context that will be watched closely by administrators and clubs. The December 2025 announcement of the new regional model represented the most significant structural change to regional football governance in the state in some years, and the process of transitioning Life Members from regional associations into the Football Victoria honour roll at last month’s AGM reflected the scale of that change.

How the eight regions perform this weekend will offer an early indication of whether the restructured model is serving regional communities effectively.

The Corrie Koppen Fair Play Award, introduced last year to celebrate the life and legacy of the late Cornelius Koppen, adds a dimension to the competition that sits alongside the on-field results. The award is given to the region judged to have played and conducted itself in the spirit of the game, a recognition that how communities behave at a junior tournament is as meaningful as what they win.

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