Wednesday, 12 November 2025

 Katie HALL (Footscray) (19:03): (1390) My adjournment matter this evening is for the Minister for Community Sport, and the action I seek is for the minister to join me at Melbourne’s premier community rugby club, the Footscray Rugby Club. The club has a proud history and a deep focus on community across its women’s and men’s teams. It has a fantastic Rugby Sevens competition. It was established in the 1920s and based at Footscray Park. This year was a spectacular one for the Footscray Rugby Club, with a 23 per cent growth in players. The Footscray rugby union club has players from across metropolitan Melbourne and even regional areas, drawn to the club for the high-quality coaching and sense of community. This year the club achieved an outstanding result: minor premiers in the first, second and third divisions. The club is so innovative it has started partnering with Victoria University’s elite sports science faculty. The clubrooms at Henry Turner reserve were upgraded with the support of the Allan Labor government in partnership with the council. Council have approved plans to upgrade lighting, but those plans have been stagnant within council since 2010. I hope this is remedied, because this is a club that is professional, it is grounded and it is growing. I look forward to introducing the minister to Mark, Charlie and the team at Footscray’s other Bulldogs, the Footscray Rugby Club.