Local community club, Balmain & District Football Club, is eager to have priority access to the pitches expected to be built at the old Rozelle Railyards site.
Balmain & District Football Club is the largest club in the Canterbury District Soccer Football Association (CDSFA) with over 2,800 players registered ahead of the 2021 season which kicks off at the beginning of April.
The rate of expansion at the inner west club means that they are in desperate need of new facilities to accommodate their record high registration numbers.
As it stands, BDFC play out of five home grounds: Callan Park, Birchgrove Oval, Easton Park, Glover Street Fields and Cohen Park.
However, these fields are not enough to cater for a club which has a female participation rate of 34% - 11% above the state average.
Girls and women participation has been swelling with just over 950 registered ahead of the 2021 season.
It is this and many other reasons as to why BDFC President, Paul Avery, firmly believes that the club should have priority access to the fields proposed for the Rozelle Parklands precinct.
“The big thing is being able to find space for women to play for us. Sunday participation rates are huge for us. What the new field will do is provide us with a place for teams which do not have anywhere local to play right now,” Avery explained.
The sheer volume of people choosing football and BDFC is one of the main factors behind Avery’s determination to have his club and football as a sport chosen to have access to these pitches ahead of rival sporting codes.
“People have a huge range of sports in which they can choose to play and what they’re choosing at the moment is football. They’re choosing our code; therefore, we need to provide the facilities for them to do that,” he said.
“From a Balmain & District Football perspective they’re choosing our sport and they’re choosing our club.
“Within the Inner West Council LGA, 85% of our members are actually based locally and they want to play on the local fields and that is absolutely fair and reasonable.”
The support provided by local politicians has also been a great benefit to the club’s cause with the likes of Anthony Albanese, Jamie Parker, Darcy Byrne and local councillors Rochelle Porteous and John Stamolis all supporting the club’s infrastructure plans.
“We’re blessed by the fact that we have local representatives who actually care about the community,” the BDFC president revealed.
“They [local politicians] understand what community sport brings to the local community.”
The addition of the Rozelle Parklands Precinct will build upon the BDFC’s developments at Waterfront Drive which has seen the club included in the $14 million upgrade directed at Callan Park.
Building 497 - Behind the Waterfront Drive (Callan Park) fields. Supplied by Balmain DFC
Building 497 at the back of the Waterfront Drive ground will be restored and repurposed as the clubhouse and the section of the Bay Run that is currently shared between people, cyclists and vehicles will now be turned into a green area solely for pedestrians and cyclists.
The new clubhouse at Waterfront Drive forms part of a bigger plan for BDFC which is focused on building a sense of belonging for their members as well as the surrounding community.
“Community sports is not just a place to go and then leave again. What we want to do is nurture that community spirit, to give them that facility to come together and spend time at the field to talk and catch up.
“Building 497 will provide a focus for our club and much needed facilities for our members and the wider community.”
By Samuel Greco Schwartz (@SamuelGS97) - CDSFA Communications Officer
