Lighting upgrades complete at Solander Playing Fields

Liam Watson

Sutherland Shire Council’s floodlighting upgrade project at Solander Playing Fields is now complete, thanks to a $600,000 investment.

This brings a great benefit to the Sutherland Shire Football Association (SSFA), as well as Cronulla RSL Soccer Club who are based in Sydney’s southern suburbs.

As part of the completed works, it features a full LED lighting upgrade for the three full size football fields in conjunction with several mini fields. 10 new floodlighting poles at 18 metres and 26 new LED lights were installed in all.

The LEDs are made with a long lifespan, while the floodlights’ strong mechanical design will cause little problems when it comes to maintenance interventions for the time these lights function. Another positive of LED lighting is that the light directly goes onto the field, removing light spill that old lighting systems had in them.

Each of the three fields at Solander Fields now meet the minimum Australian Standard of lighting, set at 100 lux which can mean night training and competitions can safely take place.

Sutherland Shire Council's floodlighting upgrade project at Solander Playing Fields is now complete, thanks to a $600,000 investment.

Football NSW Manager – Government Relations, Funding and Infrastructure, Daniel Ristic:

“This is a fantastic result for the Stingrays and for SSFA. Lighting is a proven method of increasing participation capacity. Sports lighting allows players of all ages and abilities to train safely at night and can provide the opportunity to play competition in the evenings.”

“Improving existing venue capacity’ is one of the key pillars of the NSW Football Infrastructure Strategy. Lighting upgrades maximise the safety, carrying capacity and activation of existing football fields across the state.”

Sutherland Shire FA General Manager Jeff Stewart:

“Floodlighting is the number one priority identified by the SSFA in our local infrastructure strategy. From the 43 venues across the Sutherland Shire, 99% have lighting although 68% of those fields do not meet the minimum Australian Standards of 50 lux for training.”

“This project moves us one step closer to resolving the floodlight deficiency that Sutherland Shire is currently experiencing.”

Solander Playing Fields have been the home of Cronulla RSL Soccer Club since the mid 1990’s when they shifted from Captain Cook Oval across the road.

Sutherland Shire FA is the second largest football association in NSW with over 19,000 registered players in 2021 – females represent over 35% of those players. Further infrastructure upgrades allow the association to grow, especially with the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2 years’ time in Australia and New Zealand.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

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Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.

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