Northern NSW Football, the Facilities and Advocacy Unit and Sports Turf Association of Australia joined forces to bring a forum full of informative and valuable information for clubs to take back to their own facilities.
Football faces real challenges at all levels of the game to access enough facilities of the right quality to play hence why holding forums like this is vital for grassroots clubs to assist them in improving their own facilities.
The third Northern NSW Football Facility Forum was held on Saturday 10 November with McDonald Jones Stadium playing host once again.
Over 50 attendees from across the Northern NSW Football footprint attended the Facilities Forum.
The forum saw presentations from Maitland City Council, Keith McPhee (Sports Facilities Team Leader) who spoke on getting the balance right for playing fields and Laurie D’Angelo (Manager Community and Recreation) who took the group through some basics when dealing with Local Council.
ANZ Stadium curator Graeme Logan gave the clubs an insight into what’s involved when preparing ANZ Stadium for the multitude of events that it hosts from World Cup qualifiers to music concerts.
Attendees were then given the opportunity to step foot on McDonald Jones Stadium, with the Sports Turf Association providing some demonstrations on how fields are tested for hardness, moisture, etc.
“The Facilities and Advocacy Unit’s aim is to, develop and promote the game by supporting our members and stakeholders” said Manager – Infrastructure, Planning and Infrastructure, Jas Virdee.
“Facility forums such as this Northern NSW Facilities Forum provides clubs and zones with up to date information which can help improve football facilities at the grassroot level” continued Mr Virdee.
Overall the forum was once again a success bringing clubs and zones together to improve the football environment for the largest participated sport in NSW and Australia.
