Now it’s Tweed Seagals

New facilities to help club enter women’s comp

TWEED Heads will join the South East Queensland women’s rugby league competition in 2019 in a major boost to female footy on both sides of the border.

The news comes on the back of confirmation the Seagulls have been awarded a $300,000 NSW Government grant to overhaul Piggabeen Sports Complex.

The upgrade is designed to make the facility femalefriendly, with an extra set of change-rooms to be built as well as public toilets and gym.

“Women’s rugby league continues to grow in popularity across the region so we need to cater to this increase in demand,” Tweed MP Geoff Provest said.

“What we will see from this project is a regional sport facility for the Tweed and northern NSW communities with a focus on women’s, junior and indigenous participation.”

Tweed are close to locking in a coach for their women’s team which, if successful in their SEQ division one application as expected, will go head-to-head with Intrust Super Cup derby rivals Burleigh.

The Bears have been the benchmark in the SEQ competition, winning the past four division one premierships to showcase the female talent on the Gold Coast.

That talent will now have another avenue to pursue toptier club footy, as well as opening up opportunities for those south of the border.

Seagulls chief executive Paul Stephenson said: “It’s a great opportunity with where we are situated, offering young girls and women in the region to play rugby league at a really good level.”

Stephenson is confident they will be able to secure the remaining funding to cover the $500,000 total cost of the stage one upgrade.

“We want to be the club in Tweed that the community barrack for and aspire to play for and to do that we need high-quality strength and conditioning facilities,” he said.