Football NSW have launched a new Club Facility Project Plan for clubs, associations and zones across the state.
The plan has been established to help football clubs plan infrastructure projects in an orderly manner, as they seek to obtain the appropriate amount of funding for these proposed upgrades.
A recent NSW Facilities Audit showcased that football infrastructure requires significant investment.
The audit revealed figures including 32% of playing fields in NSW having no lighting at all, 42% have lighting that is considered unsatisfactory for football and only 12% of change rooms are female friendly.
“With any facility project the planning phase is a crucial aspect, by failing to prepare, you’re preparing to fail,” claimed Manager of Government Relations, Funding and Infrastructure for Football NSW Daniel Ristic.
“The Club Facility Project Plan has been created to give football clubs the best opportunity to obtain funding for an infrastructure project.
“Grants that are not thoroughly planned or hastily put together, i.e. last minute, are regularly unsuccessful,” concluded Mr Ristic.
The template is split into two separate sections.
Section one is labelled ‘Club information’ and asks for the club’s general information, including contact details, the background of the club and general facility information.
While this information should be readily available for every club in the state, the introduction of this document provides a resource to collate this information in a single specified document.
Section two focuses on the project details, which should include detailed information on the specific infrastructure project the club is seeking to generate funding for.
“This template will allow clubs to collect data and information on their specific infrastructure project well in advance of a grant submission,” said Manager of Infrastructure, Planning and Strategy for Football NSW Jas Virdee.
Mr Virdee added “by completing the Club Facility Project Plan clubs will have the bulk of most grant applications written and documentation collated, saving the club valuable time when a grant officially opens.”
The Club Facility Project Plan application document can be found here.
