Bell Park Sports Club backed by local council

Avatar
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.”

Previous ArticleNext Article

Football South Australia renews partnership with Datacord as Community Football Commitment Deepens

Avatar
Image Credit: Football SA

Football South Australia has announced the renewal of its partnership with Datacord, continuing a relationship that has grown steadily since the South Australian print and document solutions provider first entered the football community as naming rights sponsor of the Collegiate Soccer League Division 1.

That initial agreement, which saw Datacord align with one of Adelaide’s most historic amateur competitions, marked the beginning of what has since developed into a broader commitment to South Australian football at every level. The renewed partnership extends Datacord’s involvement beyond the CSL and into the wider Football SA ecosystem, with clubs across the state now able to access exclusive offers and preferred pricing on photocopying, managed print services and tailored business solutions.

The practical value of that access should not be understated. Community football clubs operate on tight margins, relying heavily on volunteer administrators managing everything from registration paperwork to grant applications. Cost-effective print and document solutions reduce the operational burden on those volunteers, a small but meaningful contribution to the sustainability of clubs that form the backbone of the game in South Australia.

“George is a great supporter of sport in South Australia and we are delighted to have Datacord as a supporter of football,” said Football SA CEO Michael Carter. “Service is second to none and we highly recommend their services to the business community within the Football Family.”

For Datacord Managing Director George Koutsoubis, the renewal reflects a genuine investment in the community rather than a transactional commercial arrangement. “It is important to support the local community, and Football South Australia is the perfect place to start spreading the word about Datacord and what we do for the South Australian community,” he said. “We are locally owned and operated, and I think it is a great partnership to be part of.”

Football NSW releases $600,000 towards Grassroots Grants to meet Participation Pressure

Avatar
The Victorian State Government has announced new grants and funding for 11 new community infrastructure projects for local football clubs, totalling $3.8 million.
Image Credit: Shutterstock

Sixty-five football clubs across New South Wales have secured a combined total of nearly $600,000 in funding through the NSW Office of Sport’s Local Sports Grant Program. It follows as a result of Football NSW’s scale of demand for community sport support and the growing pressure on clubs struggling to keep pace with surging participation.

The grants, covering 69 individual projects across the Football NSW footprint, will fund facility upgrades, equipment purchases, participation programs and accessibility improvements: the unglamorous but essential infrastructure that determines whether community clubs can function at the level their members require.

The Local Sports Grant Program made up to $4.65 million available statewide in 2025, with $50,000 allocated to each electoral district and individual grants capped at $20,000. Football’s share of nearly $600,000 reflects the sport’s status as the largest participation code in NSW, and the degree to which that status has not always been matched by corresponding investment in the facilities and resources required to sustain it.

Volunteers carrying an unsustainable load

The announcement arrives against a backdrop of mounting pressure on the volunteer workforce that keeps community football operational. Across NSW, thousands of volunteers dedicate significant unpaid time each week to administration, ground preparation, canteen operation and the logistical demands of running competitive junior and senior programs. As participation numbers climb, driven in part by the sustained visibility of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup and the legacy of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, those demands have intensified without a corresponding increase in the resources available to meet them.

“As the largest participation sport in NSW it is pleasing to see almost $600,000 will be reinvested back into supporting our players, coaches, referees and volunteers to improve the football experience across our community clubs,” said Helen Armson, Football NSW’s Group Head of Strategic Partnerships and Corporate Affairs.

The equity dimension

The distribution of the grants across 65 clubs and 69 projects also speaks to the geographic breadth of football’s footprint in NSW, and to the uneven distribution of resources that has historically characterised community sport in this country. Clubs in outer metropolitan and regional areas tend to operate with smaller budgets, older facilities and thinner volunteer bases than their inner-city counterparts. Grant programs structured around electoral allocation, rather than club size or existing resource base, provide a degree of equity that market-driven funding cannot.

The kinds of projects funded under this program disproportionately benefit clubs serving communities where the barriers to participation are highest. A club that cannot offer adequate facilities or equipment is a club that turns players away, often without intending to.

Football NSW has used the announcement to call on the NSW Government to maintain and extend its investment in the sport. “We urge the government to continue to invest in football,” Armson said, in the midst for a nation-wide push for a $343 million decade-long infrastructure fund to address the facilities gap across the state.

The nearly $600,000 secured through this round is meaningful. Against the scale of what is needed, it is also a measure of how far the investment still has to go.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend