Construction of The Home of the Matildas at La Trobe University Sports Park is on track to be finished the middle of this year, with the opening coming just before the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.
Part of a $101 million investment by the Andrews Labor Government into the university’s sporting facility, the build is the largest of its kind in the country’s history, as well as marking the biggest investment ever made by an Australian government into a football-specific project.
The Matildas will be the first to play in the brand-new facility ahead of their send-off fixture at Marvel Stadium in Melbourne on July 14, before their World Cup journey officially gets underway. It will also play host to the Jamaican Women’s National Football Team during the World Cup. Following the tournament, the training amenities and world-class fields – which will include FIFA-standard hybrid and FIFA-standard synthetic pitches – will be utilised by Australia’s national teams in their preparation for future tournaments.
As part of the venue’s designation as the State Football Centre, the facilities will eventually transform into the home base for the state’s major football programs. The showpiece-pitch, with an 800-seat capacity, will be available to host significant football fixtures – a large portion of the project’s budget was indeed aimed at building facilities that are accessible to the football community.
Football Victoria is set to relocate their offices to the state-of-the-art precinct, with the aim of bringing together the football itself and the administrative operations behind the game. As part of the plan, the organisation are also in talks with La Trobe University to further their partnership through education, leadership, sports science and high-performance collaborations.
Football Australia Chief Executive Officer James Johnson highlighted the excitement behind the project stating via press release:
“This substantial commitment from the Victorian Government, combined with the Federal Government’s earlier $15 million contribution to the project, will have a profound impact on the development and growth of women and girls’ football, and football overall, in Victoria and Australia for decades to come as part of our bold and ambitious Legacy ’23 Plan.”
La Trobe University Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Dewar AO, also emphasised the anticipation of the major development via press release:
“I’m thrilled to see such exciting progress on these exceptional sporting facilities at La Trobe University, which will offer huge benefit for our students, for sports science research and for the elite athletes and community members who use them.”
CommBank Matildas coach Tony Gustavsson further explained the significance of the facilities, adding in a statement:
“All those little details that matter in a high performance environment, they’ve thought about it all. I’m really impressed.”
With anticipation building by the day for the Matildas at the World Cup, the positive impact of opening a facility of this scale is immense, for not just the development of Australia’s future national team players but also to show support for local footballing communities and grassroots clubs. With the country still buzzing from the Socceroos success in Qatar, football is at a high talking point throughout Australia, providing the perfect springboard for putting development plans into action.
Notably, female football players, who continue to be grossly outnumbered by men in the sport, can look to The Home of the Matildas to see a proactive and successful effort by football bodies and governments to generate funding, provide training facilities and set the women’s game up for success.
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