World Game Facilities Fund blitz continues with $500,000 for Ballarat soccer club

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Credit City of Ballarat.

The City of Ballarat has announced a $500,000 grant from the Victorian State government, continuing the blitz of funding for new projects all over Victoria. The money will go towards a $3.25 million project to build a new pavilion at the Victoria Park Soccer Club’s Military Drive ground.

The pavilion will include home and away female changing rooms and facilities including a kitchen and canteen, referee rooms, publicly accessible toilets, and seating for spectators. The project is expected to begin later this year, to be completed by mid-2022.

The grant was awarded through the Victorian Government’s World Game Facilities Fund and follows several other projects being announced and funded, including further developments to Olympic Park and a host of upgrades to community club’s grounds. The focus on facilities for women’s sport continues with this project.

There has already been resurfacing, irrigation, and drainage work completed at the ground, which will soon have a lighting project begin in the coming months that has been fully funded by the Ballarat City Council. The total cost of the works is expected to be $1.3 million.

Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison said the project would allow better access to faculties for players in the region and facilitate the growth of the club.

“As we know from similar projects across Ballarat, upgraded facilities make it much easier for our community clubs to attract and retain players, and female-friendly facilities help to level the playing field when comes to participation in sport,” she said.

“I’m confident this project, with the support of $500,000 from the Victorian Government, will help make that happen here too.”

The City of Ballarat Mayor praised the support from the Daniel Andrews Government, hailed as essential for ensuring the project was both viable and successful.

“We’re really grateful for the state’s support of this important project. Soccer is one of our strongest participation sports and Victoria Park is at the gateway to our fast-growing western suburbs, so this upgrade will have a significant impact for hundreds of players at senior and junior levels,” Cr Moloney said.

“This supports the $1.3 million resurfacing and lighting works completed and underway at the facility, which together will enhance the status of Victoria Park as one of city’s most important community spaces.”

More projects and upgrades are expected to be announced from the World Game Facilities Fund in the coming weeks and months.

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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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