Ryeli Fleming’s footy team trains at Kingston Oval every Tuesday and Thursday evening, often alongside the under-12 boys and occasionally the under-17 boys too.
She says this makes for “uncomfortable” encounters in the changerooms.
“Girls coming straight from work like to get changed in there and, with boys coming in and out, it’s not a place you really want to be in,” she says.
“It would be better if we could have a facility with our own space.”
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To give home teams and visiting teams separate changeroom and toilet facilities – and make them “gender-neutral” – the Male and Female signs were removed from the doors of the oval’s Greg Lord Pavilion building a couple of years ago, and a custom-made wooden box mounted over the top of the urinal trough in what used to be the men’s bathroom.
The urinal that’s ‘no longer a urinal’. Photo: James Coleman.
But the Eastlake Football Club, lessee of the site, says it’s not good enough.
It’s calling for the ACT Government to co-invest in a massive plan to fix the oval’s facilities, alongside contributions from AFL ACT and Cricket ACT.
It’s come up with three options for the site, ranging from a full-on knock-down-rebuild to a major renovation, that will cost between $12 and $14 million over five years.
The George Lord Pavilion at the Kingston Oval. Photo: James Coleman.
Eastlake Football Club director Aaron Bruce says the result will not only bring more women into Canberra footy but also more sports into the Inner South.
“With the rise of women’s sport in the ACT, across both footy and cricket, we’ve got a great opportunity to bring this facility up to speed with modern-day requirements, particularly for women.”
In addition to the problems with the building itself, the oval’s sprinkler system “fails every other week” and the large trees surrounding the site are reaching the end of life (a point also identified by the ACT Government).
The club acquired the lease for the oval and has spent “north of $1 million” over the past decade “band-aiding” the facilities.
Two years ago, the government put $20,000 towards the $60,000 cost of renovating the bathrooms.
“But $60,000 in this day and age, on a construction basis, was barely enough to redo the floors and put a couple of power points in, to the point where with the toilets, the answer was to basically put a wooden box over the urinal as a solution to make it a gender-equal facility,” Mr Bruce says.
Many of the trees around the site are slated for removal. Photo: James Coleman.
The master plan includes three options: an “ideal layout” featuring a brand-new building with a much wider and longer footprint, a complete overhaul of the existing pavilion, or knocking down the existing pavilion and rebuilding a new one on the same footprint.
Mr Bruce says there’ll be “no significant change” to the way the facility operates, and it will remain open to the public.
He adds the total cost includes what the government would have to spend anyway in replacing trees around the site, and complements the Greater East Lakes Place Plan.
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Mr Bruce says the government’s announcements on the Place Plan in the past couple of years amount to more housing density, extra residential and mixed-use development, “but no real extra community sporting facilities, so you’re going to have increasing demand, and this facility’s just not going to be able to cope”.
Mr Bruce hopes Kingston Oval can become “one of the premier venues in the inner south”.
“You’ve got Manuka Oval, but that’s basically quarantined for elite-level, professional-level sport, and your community and local sports get no feasible access to that facility.
“So we want that facility to be here and to be really flexible throughout the year for a number of different parties and groups that want to use it.”
Independent MLA Thomas Emerson (centre): “Bring this facility up to scratch and give it a long-term future.” Photo: James Coleman.
Independent MLA Thomas Emerson is backing the proposal, saying: “It makes a lot of sense”.
“It’s time for the ACT Government to come to the table and really invest as a partner in a project to bring this facility up to scratch and give it a long-term future,” he says.
“We’re looking at around a $12 to $14 million total investment from all parties together, so this is really feasible, it’s doable, and with a historic facility like this that’s really valued by the Inner South community – and the Canberra community more broadly – it makes a lot of sense to commit to this project now.”
At a press conference this week, Minister for Sport and Recreation Yvette Berry said the government would “start looking at what the master plan looks like”.
“That would include making sure we have facilities that are suitable for female players,” she said.
“I’m always happy to work with any sports clubs about their facilities, and there are opportunities to apply for grants throughout the year in the Sports and Recreation directorate, so we’ll continue to support all of our clubs in that way.”
