Stop Telling Football to be Grateful: Follow up- This is What ‘Apply for Grants’ Looks Like

Photo: Kingborough Lions United Facebook Page

A quick follow-up to Part 3

After publishing Stop Telling Football to be Grateful, Part 3: OMG the Money! I want to add a short follow-up.

Not to re-run the stadium debate.

Not to pick fights.

Simply to add a real-world example that landed this week that perfectly illustrates what I mean when I talk about Tasmania’s funding culture.

Sherburd Park is getting an upgrade (and that is good news)

The Tasmanian Premier, Jeremy Rockliff, announced funding for new changerooms at Sherburd Park in Blackmans Bay.

I want to say this upfront.

This is good news.

Sherburd Park has been a poor facility for a long time. I have visited it many times over the years. Anyone who has spent a wet winter afternoon there understands exactly why this upgrade is needed.

Modern, inclusive changerooms are not “nice to have”.

They are basic sporting dignity, especially for women and girls.

So yes, I’m pleased to see this happening.

What the funding actually looks like

Sherburd Park’s upgrade has been funded through the Tasmanian Government’s Active Tasmania – Active Infrastructure Grants Program.

The funding for Sherburd Park is:

• $463,575 in grant funding

• with the Premier stating the total co-funded investment is more than $925,000

• because it is being matched by Kingborough Council

That co-contribution matters.

Because when people read “government grant”, they often imagine money simply arriving.

But that is not how it works.

A small pool, spread thin

This year’s Active Infrastructure grant pool was $5 million, split across 30 projects.

That is the entire pot.

Statewide.

Across every sport.

Across every region.

And that works out to an average of around $166,000 per project.

It is not hard to see why so many clubs have ageing toilets, unsafe changerooms, no lighting, poor storage and worn-out surfaces.

Not because clubs aren’t trying.

Because the infrastructure need massively exceeds the money available.

The hidden reality: grants require capacity (and cash)

Behind every successful grant announcement is a huge amount of work.

Quotes. Designs. Budgets. Risk documentation. Support letters. Planning. Reporting.

Need isn’t enough. Clubs and councils also need capacity.

And in community sport, capacity usually means volunteer hours.

Capacity is not evenly distributed across Tasmania.

These grants also come with requirements that quietly shape who can even compete.

The program guidelines allow grants in the range of $25,000 to $500,000 and require a minimum 20% co-contribution.

So clubs don’t just need.

They need money.

They need people.

They need time.

This is the point that never makes it into the press releases.

Football people are not just running teams.

They are writing grant applications at night.

They are chasing quotes between work and children.

They are doing governance paperwork so kids can train under a light that actually works.

And what clubs are chasing isn’t glamorous

This matters too.

Most clubs are not applying for luxury items.

They are applying for the unsexy basics:

• lights

• toilets

• changerooms

• drainage

• storage

• safe access

• warm, dry spaces where players can get changed with dignity

The things that make weekend sport possible.

Full disclosure

Full disclosure, South Hobart Football Club applied for lighting funding in this same round and was unsuccessful.

That isn’t a complaint.

It’s simply reality.

This program is competitive because the need is enormous and the pool is limited.

The point (and why this follows Part 3)

Sherburd Park getting an upgrade is not the story.

The story is what it reveals.

A funding culture built on scarcity.

A system where clubs are expected to compete for crumbs, carry the admin burden and then be grateful for whatever they can scrape together.

It’s worth saying this clearly, before anyone turns this into the wrong argument.

Football did receive one major grant in this round and Sherburd Park deserves it.

But one successful project doesn’t change the structural reality.

Even in a round where football receives a large grant, the total statewide pool is still only $5 million.

So this is not about football trying to get everything.

It’s about a system where community life, community sport and participation are placed inside a permanent scarcity model.

And scarcity produces predictable outcomes.

Most clubs miss out.

Many committees spend months preparing applications that don’t succeed.

And the infrastructure backlog stays right where it is.

Why this matters in the AFL context

This is why Part 3 mattered.

Football is told to apply for grants.

Football is told to share.

Football is told to co-contribute.

Football is told to be grateful.

AFL doesn’t live inside that same system.

AFL gets structural investment as certainty.

Locked in money.

Large scale money.

Not “if you’re lucky”. Not “if your volunteer committee can write a perfect application”. Not “if you can raise the co-contribution”.

That is the difference.

Football is managed through scarcity.

AFL is funded through certainty.

This isn’t just football (and that matters)

One of my neighbours is heavily involved in the arts.

And they made the same point.

The arts are scrimping too.

Grants. Applications. Co-contributions. Volunteers. Small pools spread thinly across massive need.

It is the same pattern.

Community sport scrimps. The arts scrimp. Councils scrimp. Volunteers fill the gaps.

And the message is always the same:

There isn’t enough money.

But what people are really experiencing is this:

There isn’t enough money for community life.

The real question

If Tasmania is serious about participation, wellbeing, inclusion and active communities, then we need to stop pretending a small competitive grant pool is a solution.

Grants help.

But they do not fix the structural problem.

They manage it.

And they normalise scarcity.

Football people aren’t ungrateful.

They are exhausted.

They are doing the maths.

And they are done being told to clap politely while their sport is squeezed into whatever space and whatever scraps are left over.

Sources / References

Active Tasmania – Active Infrastructure Grants Program (2024–25 successful applicants list)
Premier’s media release / announcement re Sherburd Park funding
Kingborough Lions United Football Club Facebook post

About the author
I’m Victoria Morton. I’ve spent 20 years in Tasmanian football as a volunteer, club leader and advocate.

I’m writing a personal record of what I’ve seen, what I’ve learned and what Tasmania’s football community lives every week.

👉 Read more about me here: About Victoria