A $49.9 million state-of-the art sporting complex aimed at meeting growing demand for community sport, especially from women and girls, will be opened on Sunday October 29 by City of Stonnington Mayor, Cr Jami Klisaris and Member for Higgins, Dr. Michelle Ananda-Rajah, MP.
The multi-purpose Stonnington Sports Centre in East Malvern represents the largest ever investment by the City of Stonnington in enhancing community sport and public park facilities. As part of the total cost, the Australian Government contributed $4 million.
To celebrate its opening, a free ‘Come & Try’ Sports Day featuring an array of sporting activities is set to draw hundreds of enthusiastic participants of all ages.
The new facility has four competition standard indoor courts for netball, basketball and other indoor sports, many of which are more popular with women and girls. Facilities for the clubs already based at the park have also had a major upgrade, including a pristine eight-rink synthetic bowling green, updated tennis courts with night lighting, a club lounge and space for community events.
City of Stonnington Mayor, Cr Jami Klisaris, said that providing accessible, flexible, high quality facilities is a key factor in encouraging the community to be more active, regardless of one’s background, ability level or life stage.
“Our vision is for a Stonnington community that is more physically active, leads a healthy lifestyle and is socially connected and our new centre will help boost interest in local sport and recreation.”
In the past eight years, the City of Stonnington has seen unprecedented demand for women’s sport. In 2022/23 there was a 130 percent increase in women and girls participating in community sports in the area*.
Member for Higgins, Dr. Michelle Ananda-Rajah, MP said that the Federal Government is proud to be supporting investment in accessible, high-quality community sport.
“The Stonnington Sports Centre will prioritise and celebrate women’s sport, and the extraordinary rise in women’s participation in community sport over the last decade.”
The new facilities will provide much needed capacity for the Stonnington City Netball Association to train and compete with the new stadium being named after one of its founders, Margaret Connellan.
The Association’s President, Kate Campbell, welcomed the new centre as ‘a life line’ for the growing netball community who have struggled for facilities for decades.
“Netball has one of the highest female participation rates of all team sports in Australia, and while we have a strong netball community in Stonnington, we have only been able to provide programs for 45% of all registered netballers in the municipality.
“These new courts, which more than double our current courts, ensure that we can increase access for all netballers in Stonnington and grow our programs to cater for all genders and abilities,” said Kate.
The Stonnington Sports Centre will be used for competitions, training, and programs and the stadium will be fully accessible for people with a wide range of abilities.
Alan Jolly, President of the Chadstone Recreation and Civic Club, added his congratulations.
“The impressive new centre will support greater use of the community facility and allow our club to provide more opportunities for its members to play bowls and tennis. As a club with a 65-year history, we’re very excited about our new home and thank Stonnington Council.”
*Note: The below club reported data about girls and women’s participation in local sporting clubs is collected by the City of Stonnington and excludes tennis, netball and swimming.
Category/year | 22/23 | 23/24 | Change (number of participants / percentage increase) |
Under 18 | 401 | 656 | 255 /63% |
Over 18 | 298 | 849 | 551 / 184% |
Volunteers | 123 | 388 | 265 / 215% |
Total | 822 | 1893 | 1071 / 130% |
