South Eastern suburbs continue to score goals with facility upgrade investments

Covid-recovery stimulus funding of $2.75 million for sports centres in Greater Dandenong has seen the State Government utilise $1.75 million of this package towards Ross Reserve, home to Springvale City SC and Sandown Lions FC.

Previously in April, the Frankston City Council funded upgrades to sport and recreation, where the Peninsula Strikers Junior Football Club benefited from. Now the cash splash by the State Government have made its way to Noble Park.

The crusade of bringing community sport to a higher standard is evident from the plans shared by the City of Greater Dandenong, where the funding to Ross Reserve will install a synthetic soccer pitch, 200-lux floodlighting for the pitch and landscaping, two coaches’ boxes with an additional technical box and perimeter fencing.

The City of Greater Dandenong will contribute $616,000 to the cause, with the remaining of the State Government package to be put towards upgrading the tennis courts of the Burden Park Tennis Club.

“This is a massive win for the Ross Reserve precinct and Noble Park – and builds on the other infrastructure projects that are currently underway including the New Sports Pavilion, the new All Abilities Playground and the new Health and Wellbeing Centre at the Noble Park Aquatic Centre (NPAC),” South Eastern Metropolitan MP Lee Tarlamis said, chair of the Noble Park Revitalisation Board.

“These important projects will deliver state-of-the-art facilities for our local community and for existing and future members of the clubs that use them for decades to come – as well as create local jobs in the short term.”

This is welcoming news as it comes from the back of the genesis of the Ross Reserve project in September 2020. The announcement of that time included a premium community standard sports pavilion that provides female and junior friendly facilities that would cater for Football Victoria, AFL and Cricket Victoria standards, an oval extension and a jogging/tank track.

Other infrastructures undergoing development at the reserve is an All-Abilities playground and streetscaping on Douglas Street, Noble Park, that the council have received a budget of $500,000 to get it up and running.

“We are thrilled to receive this funding which will have lasting benefits for the health of our community through new and improved sports facilities,” Greater Dandenong mayor Angela Long said.

“There is significant work underway throughout our city, and in particular through the work of our Noble Park Revitalisation Board.”

The projected finish of construction was originally tabled towards the end of 2021, but with additional funding towards new project works at Ross Reserve, it remains unclear. However, what is certain is the enhancement of the healthy local derby between the two football clubs while taking full advantage of the facility investments provided by the State Government.

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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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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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