Work has been completed on the Williamstown Juniors Football Club rooms at Bayside College in Williamstown.
The clubroom extension and refurbishment was one of many sports projects identified in the Hobsons Bay Sports Facility Needs Analysis approved by the Council in June, 2018.
It was part of a $2.5 million package of upgrades at Bayside College approved by the council in 2019-20 and aided by a $1.2 million grant from the State Government’s Community Sports Infrastructure Fund and a big contribution from the Williamstown Juniors Football Club.
The Williamstown Football Club had previously paid for the renovation of the second oval at the school.
The recent upgrades included resurfacing of two netball courts, irrigation upgrades to both ovals, new competition grade floodlights on both ovals and three new tennis courts on the campus.
Williamstown Junior Football Club is one of the largest football clubs participating in the Western Region Football League, with 18 teams playing in 2019 and potentially 21 teams next season.
Its growth has been phenomenal over the years, run by successive good committees made up of players’ parents.
Last year, the club fielded two girls’ teams and was set to have three female teams this year before COVID-19 intervened.
WJFC is part of the Football Williamstown group, which provides a pathway from junior football to the Williamstown CYMS Football Club in the Victorian Amateur Football Association and the Williamstown Football Club in the state’s second tier of competition.
The Williamstown Juniors’ two pre-existing changerooms at Bayside College were of a good size (about 50 square metres) and were used for the home teams playing on the two ovals at the school.
Unfortunately, the away teams had to use sub-standard changerooms which were old school buildings, supported by portable toilets.
Now, the home changerooms have been converted by Loaram Constructions into a fantastic social space, and four new changerooms with showers and toilets added along the Bayview Street side of the oval.
The kitchen/kiosk has been refurbished and looks a treat, a timekeeper’s box added above the kiosk and new umpires changeroom converted from existing space in the original footprint.
Heaps of storage space have also been included in the new extension, plus some water tanks.
Loaram Constructions added two new light towers on the second tower and upgraded the floodlights to competition grade LED lights, which will be better for training, but also allows Juniors to play night games.
I understand the WRFL is looking for grounds that enable junior teams to play competition games at night, potentially on a Friday.
It eases the burden on the league, who are sometimes struggling to find enough umpires for Sunday games.
I don’t think it will be too far away when we will see a WJFC game at Bayside on a Friday night!
