Hume City FC has hosted The Victorian Labor Party and Premier Jacinta Allan at its official home ground – John Ilhan Memorial Reserve – as it looks to enhance its facilities and develop new infrastructure to help grow the women’s game.
As part of the visit, Hume City FC president Ersan Gülüm, Vice-President Haydin Bekir and Board member Moe Bekir presented the club’s extensive proposal to government officials, including Premier Allan herself, outlining their vision to establish a new state-of-the-art female-only football pavilion.
Other proposed changes to the home of Hume City included improving and developing new facilities and infrastructure that would serve all levels of club participants – from its junior players to its senior women’s team, senior men’s team, and wider community.
Joining Premier Allan at the club were Enver Erdogan, Iwan Walters, and former Matilda and Hume City FC Ambassador Selin Kuralay.
Hume City senior women’s team is enjoying immense success this season currently sitting first, senior men’s squad that currently sits second in NPL Victoria.
The potential project comes after the club recently received a $250,000 funding grant to upgrade the aging ground lights at John Ilhan Memorial Reserve.
QUOTES
JACINTA ALLAN
Victorian Premier
“It’s fantastic to see the incredible growth in girls’ and women’s football at Hume City FC,” Allan said.
“We’ve already backed the club with funding to upgrade the lighting, and it was great to hear directly from the club about its vision for the future and the opportunities it sees to continue growing the game.”
IWAN WALTERS
Member for Greenvale
“It’s always special to visit Hume City FC – a fantastic community club in the north. It was wonderful to showcase the Club and the work they are doing across our community to the Premier of Victoria and Minister Enver Erdogan – both strong supporters of community sport,” said Walters.
“They’ve been really supportive of my advocacy within government for funding and upgrades for this great club. I was so pleased that this recently helped to secure $250,000 of Victorian Government funding to upgrade the lights at NASIOL Stadium.
SELIN KURALAY
Former Matilda and Hume City FC Ambassador
“The club’s done a really great job demonstrating that they’re really focused on women’s football,” said Kuralay.
“We’ve got seven teams here already, and this will just continue to bring attention to the club and its aspirations to continue growing.
“It really demonstrates that the club are taking things really serious. The government’s taking it really serious and they’ve got a key investment.
“It just shows that there’s a commitment from the government and hopefully we can get that over the line to continue to grow the game and see that continued growth in the women’s game.”
HAYDIN BEKIR
Club Vice President, Hume City FC
“It was a pleasure to have Premier Jacinta Allan come down today and have a discussion with us here at Hume City Football Club,” said Bekir.
“We were given the chance to reveal our plans for the future, for the facility and for our women’s and female programs.
“We’ve been able to show where we sit facilitywise today, and discuss some of the key areas that need upgrading in the next three to five years,
“With the growing rate of our women’s and girls programs here at the club, having adequate facilities that can support future participation numbers is important, but we are also very passionate about improving the quality of our footballers. Having the right facilities for that is one of the best ways to achieve that.”
