The promise of new funding for the home ground of one of Launceston's most successful sporting clubs has been welcomed by the soccer community.
On Wednesday, Labor announced it would provide $500,000 in funding to upgrade the facilities at Prospect Park if it won the upcoming federal election.
The $500,000 in funding would be in addition to $1 million from the state government, committed as part of the 2020 state election and will go towards building new change rooms and additional club room facilities.
Launceston City senior president Danny Linger said as the club expected to grow in the coming years the funding would help the club provide the much-needed facilities. "It's fantastic, absolutely," he said. "We can do with everything when we have over 550 members, we can certainly do with all the help we can get.
"We're spending upwards of two and a half million dollars for some new facilities and it will make the venue of Buckby Motors Park, it'll be a fantastic addition to that and to the club itself. "
Mr Linger said Labor's promise was an investment in the club and more broadly in the development of Launceston, with soccer a significant part of the community.
"Soccer is the highest played team sport in Tasmania by far, the others don't even come close by a longshot.
"When you look at the western end of Launceston, like the Prospect Vale area, you've only got a look at the amount of development going on at the minute with housing lots, it's just going to explode in the next five to 10 years," he said.
"Even with what we're doing at the minute, we're not going to cope, we're almost getting close to capacity as it is, we're at 550, plus this year and nearly 580 members last year."
The announcement has been seen by other clubs as an investment into the future of Tasmanian soccer, with city rival Launceston United welcoming Labor's commitment.
Launceston United president Anthony Coulson said with United having received a chunk of $10 million in state funding to develop its home to support Tasmania's bid to host the women's world cup, funding for other clubs in the North could only benefit the game.
"We're certainly happy Launceston City can benefit from some funding, that's good for them and it's good for everyone else," he said.
"Riverside, they're all done and dusted with their recent renovations, so it sounds like everyone's a winner."
Mr Linger said with facilities that were never built with the current capacity in mind the club was in desperate need of an upgrade.,
"Our current club rooms are 40 years old, certainly not fit for the task," he said.
"They were only built for 40 or 50 players and they're doing well over 200 on any given home day, so the facilities we're building now will match the current capacity."
Liberal's candidate for Lyons Susie Bower did not respond when asked if she would match the commitment, saying only she had met with the club on their proposed redevelopment.
