Liberals pledge to use every spare blade of grass for junior sport

Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said the supply of sports grounds and facilities, especially for junior clubs, was way behind the city’s rampant population growth and he pledged on Sunday to spend $195 million upgrading sporting amenities.

The centrepiece of the promise is a $89 million “Grassroots Sport Fund” to benefit suburban and country areas, with Mr Guy also saying he would “get back in control of population growth” by spending $30 million on new sporting Infrastructure in a “Growing Communities Fund.”

Land attached to schools and other state government-owned institutions would be pressed into service through a $39 million Sports Ground Investment Package, if the Coalition is successful at next month’s election, Mr Guy said.

The Liberals envisage joint ventures between community sports clubs and government institutions, especially in high-growth areas of the state to ensure that publicly-owned land does not sit idle while sports clubs have nowhere to play.

Mr Guy made his announcement with his opposition sports spokesman Danny O’Brien at a junior football clinic in the Opposition Leader’s own electorate of Bulleen on Sunday, with both men saying a Coalition government would shift the government’s focus away from elite sport and back to the grassroots.

“Suburban and regional sport clubs are being squeezed by enormous population growth,” Mr Guy said.

“Our local sports grounds and courts need urgent upgrades including building new female change rooms.

“Only a Liberal-Nationals government will provide our community sports clubs with the backing they need to get back in control and build the facilities they need to support local population growth.

“It’s about time that our suburban and country sporting clubs, rather than just the AFL, got some support from the state government.”