Seaford Soccer Club

Mr PICTON (Kaurna) (15:24): Quite recently, I made a speech to this parliament outlining my support for the Seaford Rangers Football Club in my electorate, the steady growth in participation in this club, as well as the frustrations that I and the club have had in trying to advocate to the City of Onkaparinga in progressing capital upgrade requests for the club. To be honest, I did not think that I would be rising to speak so quickly again about this club, but there has been a tremendous new development for this club since I last spoke.

On 4 June, the Treasurer as well as the Minister for Sport announced that the 2016-17 state budget will include $10 million funding for soccer facilities across Adelaide. This project, in conjunction with the Football Federation of South Australia, will involve the construction of artificial pitches at eight soccer clubs across Adelaide. This is due to heightened interest in grassroots and competitive football clubs, and it will encourage more players, young and old, to benefit from the participation in club sport.

An interest in soccer, we know, continues to grow very quickly in Adelaide and South Australia, particularly as Adelaide United won this year's premiership in front of 50,000 local fans. I am therefore particularly delighted that one of the clubs from the Football Federation that has been chosen to benefit from the upgrades was Seaford Rangers. They will have the benefit of a $1.5 million upgrade as part of that package. The upgrade for Seaford Rangers will include a new artificial pitch, new match-standard lighting and new fencing around that pitch. Potentially, the project will also include upgrades to the change rooms, subject to some support from the council as well.

This investment will be a game-changer for the Rangers and for soccer in southern Adelaide. An artificial pitch, of course, is the equivalent of having three turf pitches since it can be used for so many more matches and training sessions without damage and maintenance, particularly with the match-day support lighting that is to be installed as well. This means that Seaford Rangers can expand its program of senior and junior teams and establish women's teams which will be a fantastic benefit for women in southern Adelaide.

This is a club that also recently, as I have mentioned before, has developed the Summer Sevens program which has been tremendously successful in attracting young people to the sport, seeing hundreds of young people partake in seven-a-side teams. That will, no doubt, expand under this new funding as well. I congratulate everybody involved in the Rangers who have worked so hard to advocate for their club and grow the participation, particularly of junior players, in the South. Thank you to board members, including Cheryl Sawtell, Greg Wright, Terry Wraight and all the other board members and players at the club for their passion for soccer in southern Adelaide.

The Treasurer's announcement is also great news for another southern soccer team, the South Adelaide Panthers, and I know the member for Reynell also shares in the delight for that since it is just over the border in her electorate. These already have a strong women's team at southern Adelaide, and that will no doubt grow under this funding. Likewise, due to a lack of space, they also have to turn away young people, as Seaford Rangers do, who want to play. That will, no doubt, be addressed with this extra funding.

I also note that I work with dozens of local sporting groups in my electorate and those that closely surround it, and I know that there will be many other sporting groups looking on saying, 'We would like some funding, too.' I am very well aware of that and I will continue to work hard for those clubs to make sure that we progress their funding upgrade requests, many of which are very reasonable and many of which have been advocated for some time.

Another significant priority in the south is to get a soccer pitch at Aldinga as well where there is currently no soccer infrastructure. I look forward to working not only with Seaford and South Adelaide football clubs but also with all the sporting clubs across the South to advocate for improved facilities, particularly those that encourage more women and girls to take part in sport.