$1.3 million upgrade for female sporting facilities at Hobart’s Clare Street Oval

The City of Hobart is allocating $1.3 million to upgrade the facilities at Clare Street Oval for young women and girls of the New Town White Eagles Soccer Club - delivering a major overhaul of the team’s change rooms and sporting pavilion.

Clare Street Oval is home to the New Town White Eagles Soccer Club, and is used by Sacred Heart School, New Town Cricket Club and the local community.

The project is expected to take up to five months to complete and has been partly funded through the Tasmanian Government’s Levelling the Playing Field Grants Program, which provided $450 000 for the project. The City of Hobart is contributing another $850 000 to the project as part of its commitment to levelling the playing field for young girls and women and people with disabilities.

City of Hobart acting Lord Mayor Helen Burnet notes “participation in women’s sport is surging across Australia, and the number and quality of sporting facilities plays a key role in encouraging and sustaining this growth.

“The New Town White Eagles Soccer Club, which calls Clare Street Oval home, is no exception, but the ability for more girls and young women to get involved with the club is hampered by the current condition of their change rooms and sports facilities.

“The current change rooms have no accessible toilets or lockable showers and are poorly lit.

“This project will create a new, beautifully designed sports pavilion with four modern change rooms, two accessible toilets and ten lockable shower cubicles – it will also see two separate change rooms created for umpires with their own showers and toilets.”

The old, separate toilet block will be demolished and replaced by new public toilets attached to the new sporting pavilion.

“The City of Hobart encourages greater participation in sport by everyone who wants to play and the upgrades to the Clare Street Oval change rooms will support this,” the Acting Lord Mayor said.

“Some young sports people, including girls and people with disabilities, may have felt excluded previously because of less than welcoming facilities.

“Everyone deserves safe and secure sporting facilities that help them be the best they can be at their chosen sport.

“The City of Hobart is pleased to partner with the state government to level the playing field for everyone.”

Image courtesy City of Hobart