Community Sports Proposal

The pathway for womens Australian rules football in SA into the Womens
AFL competition is quickly developing and this proposal is looking for
support an identified gap in the pathway in our local Adelaide Hills
Community.
With the introduction on the Womens AFL, expansion of womens teams
in local football clubs as well as the making of a four team SANFL womens
league there is still work to be done in order to create this talent pathway
for all women across the state of South Australia. Currently SANFL teams
including Norwood, North Adelaide, Glenelg and West Adelaide have
womens sides featured in this years SANFL State-wide Super Womens
League. Although this is fantastic for women who want to participate in a
higher level of football that live in these respective zones, talented women
who live in more suburban areas may be restricted to playing for these
inner metropolitan based teams.
After looking into our local community in Mt Barker of the Adelaide Hills it
was clear that there were opportunities for women to play football at a
local level for Hills based sides such as Mt Lofty, Nairne and Mt Barker.
However, for more talented and capable players the opportunity to play
for a SANFL based team that is within easy access is not available. The
Sturt football club in the SANFL bases its recruiting zone throughout the
Adelaide Hills but centres their home games at The Peter Motely Oval in
Unley.
Although this venue is a fantastic ground, it is small and often gets muddy
when the football season gets to mid-June to July and the facilities are
male orientated. The Double Blues host a League, Reserves, U18s, and
U16s sides throughout the season and also coordinate U15, U14 and U13
trainings and games for their younger male talent as well. This means the
oval gets excessively overused not only for the football but the club also
shares the oval with the Unley Cricket Club for the summer as well.
With this being said, my proposal is to create a womens football side for
the Sturt Football club, based here in Mt Barker. This will allow talented
players across the Adelaide Hills to play in the SANFL State-wide Super
Womens League for the Sturt Football Club and it creates the pathway
one step closer to the Womens AFL. Recently the Mt Barker Football Club
have received a $460,000 grant from the state government to build new
change rooms and facilities at their local ground which is specifically to be
female friendly. This proposal looks to maximise these new facilities which
are due for completion before the 2018 season.
Further into the future, the football facilities in Mount Barker area looking
to expand away from Howard Lane and venture to the proposed new
development next to the Mt Barker Golf Course. This new development
will include two ovals, one for the cricket club and the other for the
football club, again be designed to support both male and female athletes.
Again this proposal looks to complement the new development and value
add to the use of these facilities.
We currently have the support of the Sturt football club and the SANFL
and we are looking for local council support in the form of a $10,000 grant
that would go towards needed equipment such as cones, footballs and
bags as well as apparel such as guernseys, socks, shorts, polo tops and
jackets. At this stage we are actively seeking sponsorship from the local
community which will anticipate to cover the ongoing costs of the 2018
season such as medial requirements, umpire costs and league fees.
Henry Bruce