Meakin Park at Slacks Creek has been given a facelift after $500,000 was spent to make change room facilities more female-friendly.
Changes were made as part of a statewide program to boost female-friendly sporting facilities.
At Meakin Park, that includes change rooms, 29 unisex shower cubicles and 10 unisex toilet cubicles.
“Having female-friendly change facilities are incredibly important to keeping girls and women active in their local sporting clubs,” Waterford MP Shannon Fentiman said.
“Women and girls shouldn’t have to get changed on the sidelines or in the car and then head home for a shower.”
She said upgraded facilities would boost female player numbers at Meakin Park with a more welcoming environment before and after the match.
“Fields like Meakin Park are where there’s opportunity for the committed and determined in the decade ahead to the 2032 Brisbane Games,” Ms Fentiman said.
“More girls and women are taking up traditionally male dominated sport with 15,000 or 20 per cent of all football club players being female,” sport minister Stirling Hinchliffe said.
“The number of female players is soaring and that’s what makes having appropriate facilities so important.”
Football Queensland CEO Robert Cavallucci said investment in new facilities like the new change rooms at Meakin Park will help to accommodate current demand and the expected surge in female participation in the lead-up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
“We are experiencing phenomenal growth in female numbers leading up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 which will be held right here in Australia,” Mr Cavallucci said.
“MiniRoos girls participation has increased by 30.6 per cent in 2021 alone.
“Having inclusive facilities like these at Meakin Park will help us unlock the legacy of this global event and continue Queensland’s proud track record of producing Matildas players.”
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