Wollongong City Council Commits to Upgrading Thomas Dalton Park

Football South Coast is proud to announce that Wollongong City Council has approved $200,000 to be used for lighting at Thomas Dalton Park which will provide the South Coast Wolves to use the facility as a training base.  The council also approved $350,000 to update the amenities block as a separate project, which will mean a significant upgrade for the multi-sport facility.

‘This is a fantastic result for football, this is the first major government funding since the loss of Brandon Park that will give football and our representative teams access to a fantastic training facility that is centrally located and will relieve usage of other grounds across the region’ said FSC Chairman Eddy De Gabriele.

This time last year the football community was extremely disappointed when the FSC Application for funding for the West Dapto Home of Football was not successful, however FSC have continued to look for viable solutions for resolving football’s current infrastructure issues.

FSC CEO and MD Ann-Marie Balliana said ‘Obviously without a home ground, one of the biggest issues facing the South Coast Wolves was a training base and this has been the focus of FSC Board over the last year.  FSC Board have worked closely with Wollongong City Council and other users of the facility and this is a great collaborative community outcome’.

In June 2014, an application was submitted as part of the Club Grants Category 3 Funding applications with a view to upgrading Ian McClelland Park with a synthetic pitch and lighting.  FSC worked closely with local club South Coast United to consider the option of upgrading the facility.  The maximum amount available from this funding program was $2 million and was considered an ideal opportunity to leverage of an existing facility.   Wollongong City Council committed $200,000 to assist with this project, however unfortunately the funding application was not successful with more than 180 projects across NSW applying for the funding pool of $12m.

The search for a viable training solution continued since this time and on the 15^th December, Wollongong City Councillors voted to reallocate $200,000 set aside for lighting at Ian McLennan Oval, Kembla Grange, to be used to provide additional lighting for a variety of sports at Thomas Dalton Park.

”I raised the reallocation of this funding as a Lord Mayoral Minute as this money will also enable  a short to medium term training solution for Football South Coast’s elite junior and senior teams at Thomas Dalton Park,’’ Cr Bradbury said.

“This will benefit not only the South Coast Wolves in their training and development programs, who will  now share the  area with Touch and Cricket, but also all the non-elite sportspeople who use the fields.’’

All of the eight grades of the Region’s Representative Wolves Teams, from Under 12’s to the First Grade squad train three nights a week and sharing training grounds across the region resulted in significant overuse of grounds and at times paying a premium for the use of these grounds. 

The Allocation of Thomas Dalton Park to FSC will now enable this facility to be used as a premium Football training base and will alleviate the many problems the Wolves have faced over many years. The Wolves will have access to 3 grounds at the Southern end of Thomas Dalton Park with the Eastern end to be used by Touch Football on Monday and Tuesday nights during winter and also available to the South Coast Wolves and other FSC activities on all other days.

‘Over many years the South Coast Wolves have trained across different facilities.  Thomas Dalton Park is centrally located and will be a great training venue for all of our squads.  This is a fantastic training solution for the club which has been a key issue.  This whole process has demonstrated the great relationship we have with the FSC Board and our common objectives to improve football in the region’ said Andrew Byron, Chairman of the South Coast Wolves.  

West Dapto still continues to be long term strategy for FSC with 20 hectares of land that Wollongong City Council has allocated to football. 

Eddy De Gabriele said ‘FSC continues to work with all levels of government and FNSW to deliver additional infrastructure solutions to football in the region.  With growing numbers each year, FSC Academies and our own representative teams, there is still an ongoing need to improve infrastructure throughout our Members Clubs and relieve the pressures we have on our grounds at the moment’.