Funding windfall for club’s facelift

By Dion Teasdale
HEALESVILLE Junior Football Club’s players and committee are celebrating a bumper year on and off the field.
The club has received a major cash boost of $100,000 to help with the building of new player change rooms and public toilets at the Queens Park pavilion.
The State Government and the Shire of Yarra Ranges announced last week they would chip in $50,000 each toward the club’s $150,000 refurbishment project.
The club will put in the remaining $50,000 and hopes to begin construction of the new facilities, which will also include improved ambulance access and disabled toilets, later this year.
Mick Connell, the club’s president, said players and their families were thrilled by news of the cash windfall.
“The whole club is absolutely wrapped,” he said.
“This tops off a brilliant year for us and it means we can get on with the upgrades we need badly here.”
The $100,000 funding boost comes less than a month after the club was named Football Victoria’s Community Club of the Month for July and only two weeks after the club’s Under 16s team won a premiership.
Seymour MP Ben Hardman said the club was a worthy recipient of funding provided through a $10 million joint initiative with the AFL, known as the Country Football and Netball Program.
“There are a range of health and safety improvements, infrastructure shortfalls and access issues that need addressing here, and this funding means upgrades can be done soon,” he said.
“The club does a terrific job engaging with young people, offering support to the wider community and working with other sports clubs and deserves this funding.”
James Martin, the shire’s manager of community relations said the council was pleased to support the club’s refurbishment project.
“The shire believes in working in partnership with the State Government and local sporting clubs, to encourage participation, especially at a junior level,” he said.