Women’s sport the big winner as facilities fund enjoys remarkable first year

The WA Government’s female sporting facilities fund has enjoyed a remarkably successful first year, allocating 11 times its planned budget to deliver $3 million in support of grassroots women’s sport.

Nine projects which provide unisex or dedicated women’s facilities are set for State Government support, demonstrating the popularity of the initiative among WA sporting clubs.

The $250,000 initiative was introduced in August 2018, with the goal of retrofitting unisex and female-appropriate change rooms to support increases in women’s participation.

However, demand has been so great that more than one-third of the latest round of the Community Sporting and Recreation Facilities Fund will be spent on change room projects which support women’s sport.

Melville City Hockey Club is one association set to benefit, with its ageing clubrooms to be upgraded as part of the initiative, giving the club’s female hockey and cricket players appropriate change room facilities for the first time.

Its existing clubrooms will be redeveloped into four unisex change rooms, as part of a project carried out in conjunction with the City of Melville and the hockey club.

The existing clubrooms do not cater for women, forcing female players to use temporary demountable change rooms, with a recent survey identifying concerns about there being no shower screens and only one toilet for up to 16 women’s players.

The Melville City Hockey Club is one of WA’s biggest hockey clubs and shares its grounds with the local KLCC cricket club, with a combined membership of 1,300.

Source: WA Government