Page 8 - AFL Queensland Facilities Plan 2014-2020

Grassroots Facilities for Australia’s Game
Australian football
in Queensland is predominantly reliant on facilities that are provided by the public sector. AFL Queensland audits reveal that 97% of community football is played on publicly owned and managed facilities.
As Australia’s Game, Australian football occupies a unique place in our national sporting landscape. In Queensland and the NSW Northern Rivers, our footprint is large and growing – there are currently over 224 clubs within our network, providing playing opportunities for more than 50,000 football club and Auskick participants. In addition to this, there are many more players who regularly participate in schools
and informal football activities. To support this activity there are many thousands of volunteers across our grassroots club network involved
in a broad range of activities from administration through to facility maintenance.
Australian football facilities in Queensland and the NSW Northern Rivers are predominantly located on land provided by the public sector. Audits of our community facilities have confirmed that 97% of football ovals are publicly owned – 76% on properties owned by local Councils and 21% on schools or other State Government lands. The remaining 3% of football ovals are privately- owned by clubs.
Community club structures in Queensland are consistent with those found across Australia – typically clubs field junior, youth
and senior men’s football teams, with youth girls and women’s teams becoming more common. Many Queensland clubs also support Masters football teams and Auskick centres, and may share their facilities with other sporting associations
such as cricket and touch football.
There are also an increasing numbers of AFL 9s (touch) football teams
who play in social competitions at club facilities. This is a sector that
is expected to grow further as the popularity of social sport continues to increase. AFL 9s has been created with flexible space requirements, and can be played on soccer-sized pitches. This raises the possibility
of AFL 9s competitions being played on community reserves not typically configured for Australian football.
Since 2007, the AFL has been
able to invest substantial sums
into grassroots Australian
football through the AFL Facilities Development Reserve. The Reserve is a fund dedicated to improving
our grassroots club infrastructure
at ovals across Australia. Since its inception, the Facilities Development Reserve has supported over $491 million of facility improvements across over 609 projects. The scope of projects developed range from modest upgrades of existing facilities through to the construction of new multi-million dollar precincts.
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