Football applauds NSW Government sports rebate
The CEO’s of the governing bodies for the State’s largest club based sport, Northern NSW Football (NNSWF) and Football NSW (FNSW) who collectively represent 400,000 participants, have applauded today’s announcement by the State Government in the NSW Budget to establish a ‘sports rebate’ and provide additional investment in regional infrastructure.
Parents of school aged children across the State will benefit from the ‘Active Kids Rebate’, a new $100 rebate for sporting and fitness related costs announced today by Treasurer Dominic Perrottet with $207 million set aside over four years from 2017-2018 for families with children in school from early next year.
Northern NSW CEO David Eland and newly appointed Football NSW CEO Stuart Hodge acknowledged the initiative would encourage more young children to participate in the world’s most popular sport across NSW.
“The health and lifestyle benefits of participation in sport are well known, both for individuals and for communities, so any initiative that makes more children participate in the sport is welcomed by everyone,” Eland said.
“The state bodies applaud the State Government’s initiative in establishing the Active Kids Rebate, which will greatly assist parents to encourage their children to adopt active lifestyles.
“The rebate will make the State’s largest sport even more accessible as a direct result and we anticipate incremental growth to continue in 2018 and beyond,” NNSWF CEO David Eland concluded.
As well as acknowledging the benefits of the ‘Active Kids Rebate’, Football NSW CEO Stuart Hodge also recognised the valuable commitment by the NSW Government to community sports facilities in the Budget, with $1.3 billion allocated to regional infrastructure.
“Football is well positioned to take advantage of the $1.3 billion Regional Growth Fund,” Hodge said.
“The NSW Football Facilities and Advocacy Unit has identified facility enhancement and development projects totalling $330m through the Future Needs of Football Blueprint. Improving lighting, drainage and amenities are priorities, particularly in response to the boom in female participation. Football is committed to partnering the State Government to ensure community football facilities are welcoming, inclusive and safe. Good facilities are crucial to building better communities by improving the quality of life in our regional towns and cities.
“Ironically, the Active Kids Rebate has the potential to place further stress on football facilities, which in many cases are already bursting at the seams. The $1.3b Regional Growth Fund will facilitate much needed investment in football facilities throughout Regional NSW. Football has the unique ability to break down social and cultural barriers. The game’s 1000 plus clubs are committed to serving their communities and facilitating opportunities for their members to meet, interact and develop enduring friendships,” Hodge concluded.
The Active Kids Initiative follows on from the announcement last week of the $4 million-dollar rollout of defibrillators at sports clubs to address the risk of cardiac arrest whilst attending sporting events.
Furthermore, football will most likely benefit from the $2 million dollar ‘Modernise and Optimise Regional Sport’ Initiative in conjunction with other regional initiatives.
This shows yet another major win for the ‘world game’ following the overall sport participation figures eclipsing 397,000 including Northern NSW, as the code continues to dominate as being the number one played sport in not only NSW but the country.
The direct beneficiaries of the newly announced ‘active kids rebate’ will be the 116,290 ALDI MiniRoos youngsters aged 5 to 11 years and the 74, 548 Youth footballers aged 12 to 17 years.
