A $4.5 million upgrade to Baseball and Football facilities at Mortlock Park in Colonel Light Gardens will see a new generation of players welcomed to the clubs – with a focus on encouraging more local women and girls to have a kick or a hit. That’s according to Facilities Development Manager at Colonel Light Gardens Football Club, Peter Callaghan.
“We are extremely excited and looking forward to the opportunity to provide new facilities to our exisiting members and to the future players who will come as a result of us having these new facilities,” Peter said.
Two additional accessible carparks and more lights will be added to the existing carpark and the old Girl Guides hall – not in use – will be demolished under the plan. A new changeroom block will also rise in the east of the park.
Meanwhile the old building will be renovated to fit uni-sex and umpires changing rooms, accessible toilets, a new lift and an extension to the balcony for spectator seating.
New cricket practice nets and grounds storage will reduce clutter across the park, consolidating facilities while optimising club and community benefits.
After extensive consultation with Mitcham Council and the sports clubs, Grieve Gillett Architects have drawn up the design with a central goal of upgrading and extending the existing building to improve amenities and to bring them in line with the AFL Preferred Facility Guidelines.
Senior Architect, Ben Van Loggem says, “the two-storey brick building, built in the 80s, sits as an anomaly in the predominantly single-storey heritage context of Colonel Light Gardens.”
“The sensitive context presented challenges, but also opportunities to conduct detailed analysis of the project site and surrounding suburb,” he said.
Mitcham Council will fund $1.4m of the development in addition to $2.1m from the state government, $900,000 from the federal government and $50,000 each from the baseball and football clubs.
Peter says the upgrades will bring the club into the 21st century.
“We have just two change rooms, which haven’t been touched since they were built in the 1980’s,” he said.
“They’re old, decrepit and unfortunately at the moment, we aren’t able to offer our junior or senior female players a space to change.”
This local upgrade comes as the state and federal government’s continue their push for more women to join grassroots sport following the success of the Matildas in the FIfA World Cup last year.
The SA Government has invested $18 million in it’s ‘The Power of Her: Infrastructure and Participation grant program’ to deepen the legacy of women’s sport, providing dedicated facilities, improvements and programs that will grow female sporting participation.
For the first time in Australian history, sport clubs around the country are now required to have a minimum of 40 per cent women members on their board – as part of the launch of National Gender Equity in Sport Governance Policy. They must maintain numbers to be eligible for the State Sport and Recreation Development Program funding, currently 94% of clubs meet this quota – up from 34 in 2016.
SA minister for recreation, sport and racing, Katrine Hildyard, says the State Government is determined to advance initiatives that help ensure girls and women can equally and actively participate in community life, including in sport.
“Diversity within an organisation’s leadership ensures a mix of skills, perspectives and experiences, resulting in better decision-making and improved performance,” she said.
The upgrades will also benefit the local community, according to Peter. The new building will recognise the local nature and be renovated externally to better reflect the region.
“It’s a heritage listed park, yet the two-level clubrooms are pretty much just steel and brick.”
The new lighting at the grounds, Peter called an absolute game-changer!
“Only three of the lights work at the moment, we can only use 2/3 of the grounds once the sun goes down,” he said.
“Once the upgrades are complete, we will finally be able to use the whole oval.”
The footy club has been at the grounds since their inception in 1926.
“We like to say, we are much a part of the park as the trees planned around it,” Peter said.
Public submissions are open until September 17.
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