The Western Bulldogs’ AFLW team is set to revel in state of the art new changeroom facilities at VU Whitten Oval, thanks to a funding grant from the Daniel Andrews State Government.

The financial commitment, which was announced earlier this year, is paving the way for the Club’s AFLW changerooms housed in the John Gent Stand to have a major facelift, including the building of enhanced recovery facilities and player amenities.

The funding will also allow for the installation of a new large scoreboard for VU Whitten Oval, which will enhance the match-day experience for games played at the venue in 2019.

Bulldogs President Peter Gordon and AFLW premiership player Libby Birch facilitated a tour of the construction site on Sunday for Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas, Maribyrnong City Council Mayor Martin Zakharov and Local Member for Footscray, Katie Hall.

Gordon said the Club was thankful for the government’s commitment to women’s football in Victoria, and it’s support of the Bulldogs.

“Our women have forged the path for women’s footy, but they’ve done it in conditions that have not been ideal, and have not been appropriate for the sort of effort they put in and the professionalism that they increasingly bring to the game,” Gordon said.

“We’re really thrilled that we’re living history at the moment, not only with the growth of the women’s game, and not only with the rebirth of the Whitten Oval, and the bringing of people back from our local communities and Bulldogs supporters to this ground.

“But we’re also living history in the rebuilding of the oval itself.  From the historic John Gent stand, which stood as an icon of footy in Victoria.  We’re rebuilding it from the inside out, so that is has great facilities. 

“We’re putting back a scoreboard that has been gone since the last Bulldogs game here against the Eagles in 1997.

“We’ve got exciting plans for the Whitten oval, not just for this project, but what we’ve got in mind to really build this facility for the 21st century for the western suburbs generally.  It’s a really exciting time.”

Birch said the new facilities will “add another dimension to the levels we can reach as a team”.

“Our ice bathing facilities, our recovery, the players can have a lounge when they come from a whole day of work to relax and cook themselves some food before training,” she said.

“We’ve got more showers, more toilets, more space for everyone, a brand-new locker room.  It’s endless.

“Those little one-percenters can make a huge difference.”

Treasurer Pallas said the Victorian Government had long-term plans to improve football facilities in our community.

“One of the great blights on women’s capacity to take up the code is the fact that we haven’t historically provided them with the same sort of quality facilities that elite sportspeople need,” he said.

“That means recognising that we have to upgrade the facilities so that we’ll have improved women’s changing facilities, we’ll have improved showers, and we’ll have massively upgraded scoreboard, so the viewing experience can be that much more enhanced.

“For far too long we’ve had a view that there’s one set of changerooms for the men, and leftovers for the women.  That’s all going to change.”