The NSW Government has confirmed that $30 million in funds for female sports facilities will be in its 2023-24 Budget.
Although the funding will seek to support several growing and established sports, the grant is likely to heavily support women’s football as a reward for the Matildas’ efforts in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
One of the key initiatives of the announcement is a new program labelled ‘Level the Playing Field’.
This fund will be intended to help develop sporting facilities both in building new facilities as well as upgrading existing ones.
Projects that have a particular focus in empowering women to participate in sports will be eligible and the State Government hopes that the fund will be a critical step in addressing gender disparity and inclusivity in sports.
The Level the Playing Field will be able to be directly accessed by grass roots sporting groups; helping to place the direction for development in the hands of those who know the sports the best.
Under this direct funding approach, the NSW Government is hoping that up to a 100 new and upgraded facilities will be delivered.
The Government is expecting that organisations that access the fund will use it to deliver fit-for-purpose facilities and amenities such as much needed change rooms, accessibility upgrades, and improved lighting.
For a long time, these have been clear barriers to entry for women’s sport and by empowering the organisations who have been fighting for these changes to make the upgrades themselves it shows a great respect and trust between community stakeholders the NSW Government.
The state’s governing body, Football NSW, has welcomed this announcement and sees it as a pivotal step in securing the future of Women’s Football that the Matildas showed is possible during their recent World Cup campaign.
Football NSW CEO John Tsatsimas expressed this in the governing bodie’s press release.
“The FIFA Women’s World Cup was a game-changer for women’s football in Australia and New South Wales,” he said via press release.
“We are thrilled to see the commitment of the Labor Government to further develop facilities that will empower women and girls to participate in our beloved sport. This investment aligns perfectly with our long-term vision for women’s football in NSW.
“Female friendly facilities are key component of attracting and retaining females in the game. We know that only 1 in 5 football amenity buildings across NSW are female friendly.”
Although this is a broad initiative it is clear that the program will be of pivotal importance to football in NSW and by extension Australia wide.
Football participation is strongest in NSW and by depoliticising the issue of investment in allowing direct stakeholder access, in contrast to the traditional model of waiting for code specific grants, the NSW government has shown that the paradigm is shifting.
By allowing those on the ground to dictate their own funding and to remove political or code-based bias this grant is showing that those sports that do have participation but perhaps have not be respectfully funded, such as football, may now in this new era flourish and begin to truly grow.
