Change rooms to benefit thousands of women and girls at Coolangatta

Thousands of women and girls are set to benefit each year from new $828,000 female change rooms that have been officially opened at Len Peak Oval for Tweed Coolangatta Junior Australian Football Club (AFC).

The new building includes an amenities block, change rooms with showers, official’s rooms, coaches rooms and storage.

The change rooms will be used by 200 female AFL players and officials at the club every week as well as more than 6,400 casual users each year from the wider community including participants in the Coolangatta Centre of Sports Excellence Program, Life Changer Foundation and NDIS providers.

Tweed Coolangatta is renowned for producing talented female players, with 19 players drafted into the AFLW since 2016, including two players who were picked up by Port Adelaide in 2022 and one by Collingwood in the same year.

Last year, the club had five teams in the South-East Queensland junior female competition, including one under 17 team, two under 15’s, one under 13 and one under 11, including an Under 15 side winning the Premiership.

In 2023, they will add a sixth female team, in the under 9 age group, giving the club female representation right through every age group in the South-East Queensland competition.

The change rooms were built by Gold Coast builders EXIMM and funded by the Queensland Government through the Female Facilities Program ($518,000), City of Gold Coast ($150,000), AFLQ ($110,000) and Councillor Gail O’Neill ($50,000).

Since 2015, the Queensland Government has approved more than $46 million to support Australian football, including $18 million towards Brighton Homes Arena at Springfield, the new home of the Brisbane Lions AFLW team.

That’s in addition to the $8 million AFL Grand Final Infrastructure Legacy Fund, a joint initiative of the AFL and Queensland Government that has so far seen projects worth more than $900,000 approved, including upgrades to playing fields, lights and change rooms across the state.