- In short: Netballers are getting changed in sheds and cars, due to a lack of change room facilities.
- Some clubs have been waiting years for facilities to be upgraded.
- What’s next? Netball Victoria is auditing all of its registered facilities, to assess the quality of club facilities.
Disgusting, substandard changing room facilities are a barrier to participation in sport for girls and women, regional Victorian netball clubs say.
The Victorian government requires all councils to have policies around providing gender equitable access to community sport infrastructure, by July this year, and for change rooms to be available from October.
But one week out from the start of the Riddells Creek Football Netball League season, netball players at the Kyneton Football Netball Club are getting changed in a mouldy room in a sheep pavilion, with no hot water or showers.
Macedon Ranges Shire Council contractors this week painted over the mould on the wall, but netballers say it’s an ongoing issue. (ABC Central Victoria: Shannon Schubert)
“We get changed in a sheep pavilion, which doubles as our storage shed,” said KFNC Netball Director Loryn Savoia.
“The mould growing on the walls is a real concern for us. It has been an ongoing issue.”
The roof of the old sheep shed where the women change.(ABC Central Victoria: Shannon Schubert)
Football players at Kyneton have access to change rooms with showers and hot water in the grandstand complex.
For netballers, there is a plastered room with toilets and a sink next to the dirt floor in the sheep pavilion.
“It’s plain to see there is inequality between football and netball,” Ms Savoia said.
As the Kyneton netball club has no changerooms, they have turned a sheep pavilion into a changeroom. (ABC Central Victoria: Shannon Schubert )
“We can’t even provide people with hot water to wash their hands.”
“I can’t encourage anyone to come into those rooms to get changed because they’re putrid.”
Alisha Turner (left) and Loryn Savoia are sick of the grim changing rooms they have to endure before and after matches.(ABC Central Victoria: Shannon Schubert)
Council hoping to start works this year
The state government announced funding in 2022 for new courts and change rooms for Kyneton netballers.
But the upgrade has been delayed due to a dispute in the Victorian and Civil Administrative Tribunal over trees that would be cut down.
The Macedon Ranges Shire Council said it was working through the dispute as quickly as possible.
“We will have a better idea of construction timelines and next steps once this is resolved with VCAT,” a spokesperson said.
The Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Club has no changeroom facilities for netballers. (Supplied: Shae Garvey )
‘Absolutely the worst’
Federal Nationals MP for Nicholls Sam Birrell described the issue of poor or no netball facilities as “widespread” across regional Victoria.
Netball Victoria said it was about to embark on an audit of all facilities around the state.
The Murchison-Toolamba football and netball club, in northern Victoria, believes it has the dubious title of the the worst netball facilities in the state.
At the Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Clubs, the toilets are narrow and old. (Supplied: Shae Garvey)
“It looks like a medieval field with straw houses,” parent and former netballer Shae Garvey said.
“There are pipes hanging out of walls, cracked tiles, uneven floors… just a little building where we’re doing the best we can to keep our club alive.”
Ms Garvey has been at the club for 10 years and loves it, but is thinking about leaving, as her daughters grow up. (ABC Central Victoria: Shannon Schubert )
After 10 years at the club, Ms Garvey is considering leaving.
“I have a 12-year-old daughter who plays at the club and she doesn’t have a safe space to get dressed. She feels uncomfortable, she feels scared.
“If we can’t get help, the club’s going to shut down.”
This storage room is the only inside facility the Murchison-Toolamba netballers have. (Supplied: Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Club )
The local council, Shepparton City, says it can’t apply for funding to build better facilities as it doesn’t own the land the club operates on.
The land is managed by the Victorian Environment Department (DEECA).
Policies to enforce fair access to facilities
Netball Victoria has 117,000 registered netball participants playing across 1,000 facilities and said it is about to embark on an audit of the quality of those facilities.
“A lot of them are old, a lot of them require upgrading and in particularly growth areas of Melbourne and regional cities we’re really short on courts,” Netball Victoria’s Allana Sharman said.
“Under the ‘Fair Access roadmap’, from July this year, all Victorian local governments need to have policies in place enforcing equitable gender access of community sport infrastructure.
From October, equitable change rooms must be available.
Former Australian Diamonds coach Lisa Alexander described the conditions for players at clubs like Kyneton and Murchison as deplorable.
“If you have poor facilities for half of your club, it says you don’t want and you don’t welcome that part of the club.” Ms Alexander said.
A Shepparton City spokesperson said the council is working with and would continue to work with Murchison-Toolamba Football Netball Club in advocating for funding for the site.
Government’s roadmap
A government spokesperson said it was “levelling the playing field for women and girls in community sport”.
“That’s why we’re implementing the Fair Access Policy Roadmap – supporting local councils and facility managers and provide equal access for women and girls’ teams,” the spokesperson said.
“Since the launch of the roadmap in 2022, the Office for Women in Sport and Recreation (OWSR) has supported local councils, public land management groups, peak bodies and community clubs to help them implement the roadmap — and we encourage councils to continue that engagement.”
2024-03-22 22:22:23
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