In 2017-2018, funding was provided to Moreland City Council from State Government’s Inner City Netball Project which enabled the netball court development of Charles Mutton Reserve in Fawkner. The facility is now decked out with eight new netball courts and lighting in line with competition standards, establishing a netball hub for Melbourne’s inner north.
Netball facilities were severely under resourced in the municipality and the inner city netball program has given the diverse communities in the north of Melbourne the opportunity to become a part of netball family.
The Fawkner Netball Club was inspired by Grace O’Brien, who saw an opportunity to provide young people in the area with a chance to give netball a try and become part of a growing community.
O’Brien didn’t waste any time, quickly setting the wheels in motion as the inaugural president of the Fawkner Netball Club. She contacted the local council and Netball Victoria to assist with the launch of the club and began the recruitment process to ensure this dream could become a reality.
“When we saw the netball courts being built at Charles Mutton Reserve, my girls really wanted to play and some of the other girls in the area said the same thing. So I contacted the council and basically said ‘I'm going to start up a netball club. How do I go about doing it?’,” she said.
Setting up the club was a new experience for O’Brien but she found support from many directions, including sponsors and grants from state and local government.
“We got a couple of sponsors, we got a Female Participation grant from Moreland Council and the Active Club grant from the state government. So that way we could purchase some equipment to get started.”
From its formation in 2019 the club steadily grew, with O’Brien capitalising on the local community and word of mouth to get people playing netball and utilising the new courts.
“At that time, we decided to do a six-week ‘come and try’ clinic and anyone could just come along - seniors, juniors, men, women - because we really had no idea who we were going get,” she said.
“We had about 70 people attend wanting to play, and then that filtered down and we ended up with three junior teams, a NetSetGO program of about 20 kids, and a ladies’ team.”
After a couple of years as president, O’Brien decided to step aside with Sharyn Muller handed the reins. Muller is continuing to forge ahead with the club, taking up new initiatives and sourcing additional funding to help grow the netball community while utilising the new courts.
“We were able to get quite a few things – we’ve been able to buy equipment, things for the canteen, we held some coaching workshops, we’ve done so many things just to really give back to the kids,” Muller said.
The Fawkner Netball Club has been able to upskill their volunteers through coaching and first aid workshops, along with diversifying their uniform options to create a safer and more inclusive environment for all participants.
“The funding puts us in a position to hold lots of courses and pay for anything that is needed for the club. Fawkner is a very multicultural club, so we’ve introduced hijabs with our logo to make sure that everybody feels welcome and is part of the club,” she said.
“We make sure that if we hold functions that they’re halal, so people don’t have to worry about what they’re eating. Grants and funding enable you to do things like that, to really be inclusive of everybody and also support the kids in any way that they need.”
