Sport
1 April, 2025
Campbells Creek FNC open new netball changerooms ahead of 2025 season
Home and visiting netballers can finally rejoice as Campbells Creek Football Netball Club has opened new netball changerooms ahead of their 2025 season opener.
Jointly funded by the Federal Government’s Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program and Mount Alexander Shire Council, the project implements netball home and away changerooms that previously didn’t exist at Campbells Creek Recreation Reserve.
The new facilities also include unisex, ambulant, and accessible toilets and showers, as well as a new accessible pathway.
Campbells Creek netball operations manager May Pratt said implementing the basic necessity of a changeroom is years in the making.
“Having changerooms for the netballers is huge — there was nothing before this,” she said.
“Netball players would be getting changed in their cars or going in and using the two toilet cubicles in the main building.
“It’s not embarrassing anymore when somebody says ‘where do we get changed’ [and we say] ‘oh, in the dunnies over there’.
“We can actually give them somewhere dedicated for them where they can put all their stuff out of the rain.
“We are grateful to the council and the government for going in to bat for us and helping us get these upgrades.”
The project builds off the nearly $650,000 upgrades to the club’s netball courts completed last May, which included LED lighting, player shelters and a storage shed.
In 2022, Mount Alexander Shire Council endorsed the Campbells Creek Master Plan, aimed at supporting the club’s ambition to improve its facilities after they came out of recess for the 2022 season.
While Pratt said the new changerooms are a step in the right direction for netball recognition, she believes more work needs to be done.
“It’s really exciting for the club, it makes you feel like you’re part of it, we often feel like we are a little bit forgotten out here and so it makes us feel like we are recognised,” she said.
“It’s much easier to recruit new players when you have nice facilities for them to come to, not some dodgy old court and getting changed in the toilets.
“It feels fair, as the predominant female sport, it’s often you feel like netball is put on the back burner.
“Even a lot of people call them a football club, even I do sometimes, I’ve never played football, never had a kid that’s played football in my life but I still call it the football club, but it’s not, it’s a football netball club.
“What we think we need are upgrades to the pavilion and we need a bigger kitchen, I think we are the only one in the league that doesn’t have an exhaust fan so we can’t cook hot chips which is a pretty standard thing.
“We turn around countless kids every Saturday for not having hot chips.”
Club president Renee Taylor agreed with Pratt’s comments, saying more upgrades will help “level the playing field” with other local clubs.
“Campbells Creek Football Netball Club has been forgotten for so many years, it’s like we don’t exist,” she said.
“Every other club in the region is getting updates or upgrades of everything and here we are left with nothing.
“We finally got upgrades and we are going to level the playing field by having the same facilities as all the other local clubs.
“Without our dedication, this wouldn’t happen either, because we are behind the scenes at every council meeting we have to attend, helping with the designs.
“There is so much time and effort from our part that goes into this as well that people don’t understand.”
Mount Alexander Shire Council mayor Rosie Annear said council is committed to further improvements at the reserve.
“The existing facilities at Campbells Creek Recreation Reserve didn’t cater for everyone in our community, and through this funding we’ve been able to change that,” she said.
“We’ve now got gender neutral changerooms at the reserve, along with an accessible toilet and shower.
“Both of these things will remove some of the barriers that people face when looking to participate in local sport — and that’s a fantastic result.
“We are still seeking funding to implement the full masterplan for the Campbells Creek Recreation Reserve, something we know is needed, but hope this project will help users feel more comfortable and included in the space, in the interim.”