By Dongyun Kwon
As the Victorian Government is backing sports clubs across the state, Healesville Soccer Club has been named in the list of grant recipients.
The club will receive $1000 in the category of on-field uniforms or equipment as part of the Sporting Club Grants Program.
Healesville Soccer Club vice president Leesa Riley said the funding would help the club purchase new uniforms for the women and girls.
“A lot of research has shown a big barrier to women participating in sports is their choice of uniforms,” she said.
“A study conducted by Victoria University showed women preferred dark-coloured bottoms.
“We’ve got red shorts at the moment, and a lot of our women have expressed concern and a desire to have black shorts, so we wanted to get a grant so that we could change over our red shorts to black shorts.”
Olive, one of the U15 girls’ team players, was happy to hear the club would distribute the new black shorts next year.
“Are we getting black shorts? That’s so awesome,” she said.
On Wednesday 11 December, community sport minister Ros Spence announced 875 grants would go to more than 740 clubs.
These grants support clubs to purchase uniforms and equipment, upskill volunteers, coaches and officials, and improve their accessibility and engagement with local communities.
“This is a major boost for clubs across the state – we’re making sure clubs have the skills and equipment they need to thrive, and get more people involved,” Ms Spence said.
“We want our local sporting clubs to be backing the next generation of local champions – and these grants provide them the chance to do just that.”
