Football Tasmania’s four-year Facilities Strategy to increase grassroots participation

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Football Tasmania Facilities Strategy

Football Tasmania has released a new Facilities Strategy for 2023-2026, as they transition from their 2019-2023 strategic plan.

The Facilities Strategy is an evidence-based strategy, designed to ensure sufficient football facilities are available to cater for unmet demand and support the projected growth of football in Tasmania, from grassroots to elite level.

Football Tasmania is seeking support from all key stakeholders – clubs, associations, state and local government, schools – to address the challenges they face in terms of growing the sport in the state.

Bulkeley stated via media release that while the primary focus of the Facilities Strategy was to support grassroots growth, it was also prepared with the view of future-proofing football in Tasmania for eventual A-League teams of its own.

There are key statistics mentioned in the Facilities Strategy by Football Tasmania that highlight where the current state of football is at as of 2022.

38,068 people participated in football, both indoor or outdoor, across Tasmania, with 13,093 of them registered for outdoor football alone. This is the most highlighted and important statistic that Football Tasmania are trying to rapidly increase in the grassroots game.

More importantly, there was a decent 39.4% increase in participation from 2020 to 2021, proving that the growth of the sport has its foundations in Tasmania and they can build on it.

There is an estimated $1,900 annual economic benefit per participant to the State, with social and health benefits
additional. It’s a system right now that can be hugely successful for the state financially and building upon it with this Facilities Strategy is key.

3,768 women and girls are registered to participate in football in Tasmania in 2023, highlighted due to the importance Football Tasmania are putting on 50:50 participation across both genders and is one of their key pillars in the Facilities Strategy.

3,954 people registered for Futsal and participated in it for the year 2022.

Football Tasmania have set foundations for the plan to ensure it succeeds in improving individual facility development at all three levels of football in the state which include:

  • State
  • Regional hubs
  • Local facilities

The Facilities Strategy is based over three planning periods (horizons), to assist in prioritisation and resources allocation to ensure long-term sustainable outcomes.

Horizon 1 –  The First Half (2023-2024)

This is considered the planning stage before the implementation of their new facilities and will lay the foundation for long-term success. Includes:

  • Facilities Strategy endorsement – including narrative, priorities and resourcing
  • Collecting up-to-date data about grassroots football
  • State & Federal Govt. engagement – incl. State Sport and Recreation Strategy

Horizon 2 – The Second Half (2025-2026)

The second stage that plans to tick boxes and aim to complete the goals set in the Facilities Strategy. Includes:

  • Start and finish work on Regional hubs
  • State facility Master-planning / delivery
  • Football association / club integration model – juniors and seniors

Horizon 3 – Extra Time (2026+)

The future past this Facilities Strategy that will ensure perennial growth of football in Tasmania. Includes:

  • Lobby for Developer Contributions Program
  • Embedded planning for elections across all tiers of government
  • Creating additional Regional hubs

The growth of football participation is vital for Tasmania, and they are expecting a large amount of growth throughout this 4-year period in the strategy.

Football Tasmania CEO Matt Bulkeley confirmed that football is the largest participation team sport in Tasmania, with around 38,000 participants.

“Football in Tasmania is growing across all categories and is expected to continue to grow,” he said via press release.

The currently have 13,093 registered outdoor football participants as of 2022 which is a 5.8% increase from 2020, indicating the growth is subtle but the demand to play the sport is most certainly there.

There is also more of a focus on the women and girls representation in Tasmanian football. Bulkeley explained the importance of improving facilities to keep the participation for women and girls healthy.

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this year will add to that demand, and we want to ensure that participants – particularly women and girls – aren’t turned away due to the lack of suitable facilities,” he added via press release.

Women & Girls participation and demand numbers

  • 3,768 registered outdoor football participants from 2022
  • 6.2% increase in registered participants from 2021
  • 16.5% increase in registered participants over last 4 years
  • 28.8% of total outdoor participants are women and girls with a goal to level this to 50:50 gender participation by 2027

The Facilities Strategy set out by Football Tasmania is in-depth and is a sign that they are positively pushing for suitable facilities that will attract the youth of the state in participating in the sport. Whilst the sport continues to grow, capitalising off the FIFA Women’s World Cup has also been a big talking point in the plan and certainly will help their ambition to grow the women’s game rapidly.

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JH Allan Reserve in Keilor East to undergo lighting upgrades

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Image credit: Football Victoria

After strong backing from the community and Football Victoria, Moonee Valley City Council confirmed the green light for upgrades to proceed later this year.

Resounding support

Ahead of the council meeting on Tuesday 24 March, Football Victoria and five Moonee Valley Council clubs created a petition backing lighting improvements at JH Allan Reserve.

What followed was an astounding 624 signatures – a demonstration of the power of united, community support. As a result, main tenants Moonee Ponds United SC and four addition clubs (including Essendon Royals FC, Avondale FC, FC Strathmore and the Moonee Valley Knights) will all benefit from the developments.

“As one of the only facilities within Moonee Valley not shared with other codes, ensuring that JH Allan Reserve meets the needs of our participants is crucial for Football Victoria,” said FV Head of Government Relations and Strategy, Lachlan Cole.

“It was fantastic to see participants and officials from those five clubs come together, support this project, and unite to speak on behalf of their needs. And it was even more heartening to see the wider football community throw their support behind the development by signing the petition.”

 

A long-awaited verdict

The decision comes as a huge step forward for the local football community, arriving after an extended process of consultations and surveys.

In September 2022, Moonee Valley City Council endorsed the Moonee Valley Soccer Strategy, which sought to identify potential upgrades at JH Allan Reserve.

Furthermore, during the community consulation between March and April 2023, 365 people participated in a survey regarding the developments. In the end, 65% of responses supported or strongly supported the installation of sports lighting at the ground.

It is therefore clear that, for much of the community, this was a cause worth fighting for. Over three years since the initial endorsement from Moonee Valley City Council, JH Allan Reserve is now set for a vital upgrade.

Final thoughts

More importantly, however, are the current and future athletes who will feel the benefit from these developments.

Football participation is growing and will continue to do so, in Moonee Valley, Victoria and Australia as a whole. That is why developments like this are so vital.

They are not merely nice to have, but are fundamental to supporting future footballers in the community by providing them with the facilities and environment to play.

Football SA Commits $100,000 to Referee Fuel Subsidy as Cost-of-Living pressure Mounts

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football South Australia has announced a fuel subsidy scheme for match officials across its semi-professional competitions, allocating up to $100,000 for the remainder of the 2026 season in response to rising fuel costs that the governing body says are threatening the delivery of fixtures across the state.

The subsidy, effective immediately, covers referees officiating across the RAA National Premier League, Apex Steel Women’s National Premier League, Apex Steel Women’s State League, HPG Homes State League 1 and State League 2. The subsidy spans senior, reserves and under-18 competitions across both men’s and women’s football.

Under the metro scheme, reimbursements will be tiered against the average Adelaide unleaded petrol price recorded each Friday, applying to all matches played in the following seven-day period. Officials will receive $30 per match day when the average price sits at $3.25 or above, $25 between $2.75 and $3.24, and $20 between $2.35 and $2.74. No subsidy applies below $2.34. For regional matches, referees travelling to Port Pirie, Barossa and Whyalla will see their per-kilometre reimbursement rise from 88 cents to $1.26 when petrol prices exceed $2.35.

All subsidy payments will be funded directly by Football SA, with no cost passed to competing clubs.

The Economics behind the Whistle

Fuel prices in South Australia, as across much of Australia, have been running at elevated levels against the backdrop of an ongoing imperialist war on Iran that has sent shockwaves through global oil markets. Iran’s targeting of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a significant proportion of the world’s oil supply passes, has disrupted shipping and contributed to price surges that are being felt at service stations in Adelaide as acutely as anywhere.

For match officials, who are overwhelmingly volunteers or low-paid part-time workers travelling to multiple venues across a season, those price surges are not an abstraction. They are a direct financial disincentive to take on appointments, particularly in outer metropolitan and regional areas where travel distances are significant and the cost of attending a game can approach, or exceed the payment for officiating it.

The consequences are cancelled fixtures, forfeited points, disrupted seasons and players who stop turning up to clubs that cannot guarantee them a game.

“This initiative recognises the critical role match officials play in delivering competitions,” CEO Michael Carter said in the announcement, “and aims to reduce the impact of travel costs across the 2026 season.”

A Structural Problem, a Seasonal Solution

The subsidy applies only to the 2026 season. Football SA has been careful to frame it as a response to current conditions rather than a permanent structural change. The $100,000 allocation is described as subject to fuel prices remaining at current levels, with the final amount invested likely to vary as the weekly threshold calculations play out across the season.

That framing is honest about what the scheme is and isn’t. It does not resolve the underlying question of whether referee payments in community and semi-professional football are adequate relative to the demands placed on officials. It remains a question that transcends the current fuel price environment and will outlast it. What it does is buy time and goodwill in a moment when both are in short supply.

Sport, and football in particular, depends on a volunteer and semi-volunteer workforce that is increasingly being squeezed by the same cost-of-living pressures affecting every other part of Australian life. When the price of petrol rises, the people who feel it first are not the players or the clubs, it’s the officials, the committee members and the volunteers who make the infrastructure of community sport function.

Football SA’s decision to absorb that cost rather than pass it to clubs is a recognition that the referee pipeline is fragile in ways that are not always visible until it breaks. The SAPA review into South Australian football, released earlier this month, identified referee development and retention as one of the most pressing structural challenges facing the game in the state, recommending greater investment in recruitment and suggesting affiliation fee subsidies for clubs that bring new officials into the system.

Friday’s announcement does not go that far. But in a season already defined by uncertain economic and geopolitical circumstance, the levy sends a clear enough signal about where Football SA’s priorities lie.

The fuel levy will be calculated each Friday using average Adelaide prices listed on Fuel Price Australia, with payments made to officials on the regular weekly schedule.

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