Better facilities, connected communities
The NSW Football Infrastructure Strategy identifies the infrastructure required to support and sustain community football over the coming decade.
The strategy addresses critical challenges facing football including capacity of grounds, inappropriate lighting, aging infrastructure, quality of playing fields, and a lack of inclusive changerooms.
Created in partnership with Football NSW, after an independent audit of 1,000 community football facilities, the strategy prioritises projects based on five pillars.
- Improve existing venue capacity
- Inclusive football facilities
- Homes of football
- Planning for growth and demand
- Partnerships and investment
The numbers
- Football is the largest team-based participation sport in NSW with 300,000 participants, 1,000 clubs and 2,250 playing fields
- Football participation in NSW has grown by 20% since 2014
- Female football participation in NSW has grown by 26% since 2014
Despite this popularity and growth many club facilities are not fit for purpose or able to cater for ongoing demand. Female footballers are acutely affected, often unable to access inclusive facilities like changerooms.
2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
Female participation is expected to grow further due to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup hosted by Australia and New Zealand. This strategy in conjunction with Football Australia’s World Cup Legacy Strategy is a once in a generation opportunity to make football more inclusive for women and increase participation.
Local partnerships
Government investment in priority projects within our communities will improve the local sporting experience and encourage others to participate.
Priority project opportunities, across Northern NSW, can be viewed by clicking on the relevant zone from the list. For more information contact Ross Hicks, Community Football Manager community@northernswfootball.com.au or 49417205.