The Club is excited to advise that the Stage Two component of the Lightwood Park upgrades is nearing completion and will see an additional four changing rooms, three referees rooms and a medical room complete the lower level of the new building.
Stage 3 engineering is nearing completion and the club is exciting to see the work progressing thanks to the ongoing efforts of AKA Architects and Maveric Builders.
The completed Stage One includes four new changing rooms, which in addition to readying the venue to host some of the world’s best players, will also make Lightwood Park a much more female friendly venue for years to come. Pitch and lighting upgrades are also well underway to meet the FIFA WWC 2023 Base Camp requirements.
Kingborough Lions United FC – Lightwood Park Pitch Upgrades
Kingborough Lions United FC – Lightwood Park Upgrades
Kingborough Lions United FC – Lightwood Park Pitch Upgrades
Kingborough Lions United FC – Lightwood Park Upgrades
Kingborough Lions United FC – Lightwood Park Upgrades
Kingborough Lions United FC – Lightwood Park Upgrades
Kingborough Lions United Football Club had their Annual Presentation Dinner on Saturday 15 October. It was refreshing to finally have an end of year event that was not affected by COVID-19 A great night was had by all as we celebrated on and off field achievements for 2022. Congratulations to all our Award Winners. A special mention to our Life Members – a mother-daughter combination, highlighting the family and community focus of our great club.
2022 Award Winners
Zoe Nolan Medal (WSL Best & Fairest) – Danielle Kannegiesser WSL Player’s Player – Sami Watkins
SWC Best & Fairest – Ella Hood SWC Coach’s Award – Greta Crevatin-Gunn
SWC 1 Best & Fairest – Michaelyne Chee SWC 1 Player’s Player – Tarryn-Lee Stevenson
George Arnott Medal (NPL Best & Fairest) – Kobe Kemp NPL Coach’s Award – Greg Downes & Jacob Huigsloot NPL Coach’s Discretionary Award – Danny Cowen
Bernie Siggins Medal (Champ Best & Fairest) – Danny Cowen Champ Most Consistent – Alastair Crane-French
U18s Best & Fairest – Gabe Easton U18s Coach’s Award – Zarian Simcox
Southern Champ 1 Best & Fairest – Jack Docking Southern Champ 1 Most Improved – Campbell Harms
Southern Champ 2 Best & Fairest – Nick Cuthbertson Southern Champ 2 Player’s Player – David Leamey
Southern Champ 3 Coach’s Award – Miles Nielsen Southern Champ 3 Players Player – Aiden Mackey
Southern Champ 4 Best & Fairest – Ben Glancy Southern Champ 4 Player’s Player – Tom Jackson
Southern Champ O35 Black Best & Fairest – Geoff While Southern Champ O35 Black Player’s Player – Wayne Quinn
Southern Champ O35 Blue Best & Fairest – Michael Boon Southern Champ O35 Blue Coach’s Award – Warren Iles
Golden Boot – Wayne Quinn
Golden Boot – Wayne Quinn
Sheena Harper Memorial (Most promising Female youth playing seniors) – Cara Lashmar Alistair Rattray (Most promising Male youth playing seniors) – Alastair Crane-French
Brian Dale (President’s) Awards – Georgia James & Doug Ollington
Mike Perrin Perpetual Trophy for Outstanding Club Service – Annaliese Cousins Laurie Harvey Perpetual Trophy for Outstanding Club Person – Georgia James
Life Members – Cathy James, Madison James, Martin Dunnington, & Natalie Ellis
These awards were presented at the Annual Youth Dinner Angus Whyte (Most promising Male Youth playing Youth) – Austin Hughes Lisa Jarman (Most promising Female Youth playing Youth) – Abby McLeod
Works have commences on the pitch and lighting upgrades at Lightwood Park, Kingston, Tasmania to prepare the facilities to meet the standards for a FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 base camp.
There’s a lot happening at Lightwood Park and every day sees new changes and advancements. Stage 2 of the building construction is nearing completion thanks to the wonderful work of Maveric Builders. The ground upgrade has commenced which will bring the pitch up to FIFA standard, concurrently lighting is being upgraded to 500 Lux.
The draw brings Kingborough Lions United Football Club one step closer to hosting a base Base Camp for one of the countries participating in the FIFA WWC 2023. Once the pool fixtures are drawn, we expect to host interested countries late October to show them our fantastic Base Camp facilities.
Media Release – Football Tasmania/Kingborough Lions Uniteed FC – 30 September 2022
The first stage of more than $6 million worth of upgrades is now complete at Lightwood Park, firming up the venue’s chances of being selected by a visiting international team as a base camp for the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
The facility has been selected among 35 venues nationally on FIFA’s Team Base Camp shortlist, with participating teams to choose from the options once the draw takes place next month.
The completed Stage One includes four new changing rooms, which in addition to readying the venue to host some of the world’s best players, will also make Lightwood Park a much more female friendly venue for years to come.
Stage Two will see an additional four changing rooms, three referees rooms and a medical room complete the lower level of the new building.
Works to upgrade the playing surface and lighting have also commenced this week, which will bring the venue up to FIFA’s required specifications when they are completed later this year.
Kingborough Lions President Brian Downes said the possibility of hosting some of the world’s best players at Lightwood Park was tremendously exciting for the club.
“As a proud community club, Kingborough Lions is committed to providing opportunities for local players to participate in and enjoy football at a level which suits them, from social to elite competition.
“The upgrades at Lightwood Park will not only give us the best chance of hosting the best international players during the World Cup, but it will also ensure our venue is able to accommodate our growing grassroots player base for years to come, which will be a tremendous legacy of having the tournament on our shores.
“On behalf of the club, I would like to thank the State Government and Minister Nic Street, and the Federal Government and Minister Julie Collins for supporting our project.”
Football Tasmania President Bob Gordon said the facility would be a gamechanger for football in Kingborough, and Tasmania more broadly.
“The transformation of Lightwood Park is an outstanding achievement that the Kingborough Lions should be very proud of,” Mr Gordon said.
“Across Tasmania, one of the biggest challenges facing football is a lack of suitable playing and training venues for our players.
“Kingborough have really led the way in showing what’s possible with passion and hard work, and there’s no doubt we’d love to see similar facilities in every corner of the state.
“We’re delighted to see the new Lightwood Park takes shape, and we look forward to a rich future for the venue, from World Cup basecamps, to A-League men’s and women’s training and matches after that.”
Tasmanian NPL Club Kingborough Lions United FC have appointed Alfred Hess as the Head Coach of the Club’s High Performance NPL Program for 2023 and beyond.
Hess, who returned to Tasmania this year to take up the role of Youth Technical Director for the Lions, has also been an integral part of the NPL playing group for the 2022 season.
“Alfred has demonstrated a clear understanding of the Club’s vision and football development plan through his role as Youth Technical Director in which he will continue in addition to his new role with the NPL” said Simon Edwards, Technical Director. “Alfred’s coaching experience also includes coaching in high performance youth environments in Canada and recently establishing the inaugural Men’s First Team at Majura FC in the ACT. We feel Alfred is a wonderful fit for the Lions as we embark on the next stage of the Club’s NPL football journey” Edwards added.
“I am grateful for the club’s support in offering me the opportunity as Head Coach of the Club’s NPL endeavour. The Club’s confidence in my ability makes me feel enthusiastic and confident about rising to this challenge. I look forward to being part of the Club’s ambitious vision going forward,” said Hess.
“I would sincerely like to thank Jez Kenth” said Hess. “Jez played a significant role in attracting me to the club and transitioning me into the role of NPL Head Coach. Jez has accomplished meaningful work in this space. In this respect, I look forward to building on the work that Jez has done and making my own contribution to the club’s success.”
“The NPL is about to enter a very exciting era here in Tasmania with the introduction of the new NPL criteria that is being rolled out nationally in 2023” said Brian Downes, Club President.
“With Alfred’s appointment to our NPL Program and following on from the great work that Jez Kenth has done over the past few years, I am very confident that Alfred will take our NPL Program to the next level, as we as a Club, strive to be the absolute best that we can be. This in turn will provide a clear and achievable pathway for our young players coming through our junior and youth programs. Obviously, we all want to see the overall standard of football in Tasmania continue to improve and we feel, as one of the larger NPL clubs in the State, that we have a responsibility to do what we can to help grow the success of this great game and Alfred’s appointment is certainly a move in that direction” Downes added.
Kingborough Lions United FC is supporting the SPSSA Winter Carnival again in 2022.
This event in late August brings together grade 6 boys and girls from Southern primary schools for a day that sees regional teams complete in a round robin tournament.
Kingborough Lions United FC has managed the trials to select players from the Huon/Kingborough primary schools and is providing training sessions for the 4 teams over the next fortnight.
The club encourages all Grade 6 players that would like to keep playing football to contact the Club to discuss their playing options for next season as they transition to high school.
Lightwood Park Upgrades – Funding Update 18 May 2022
The club has sought bipartisan support for this community project in Franklin since we started working on it in 2013. This is where we are at with three sleeps to the 2022 Federal Election:
The Liberal Party of Australia have not committed any funding to the next stage of the project.
This is a Ground and Infrastructure project that will benefit the entire Community, Football (soccer) in the South of the State, the Football Club, Kingston High School and other users of the Kingborough Sports Precinct. Ground closures over the past fortnight have once again highlighted the need for improved facilities and Kingborough Lions Untied FC continues to work on implementing the Lightwood Park Master plan endorsed by the Kingborough Council in 2018. The club is thankful to have had the support of the Tasmanian State Liberal Government with funding for Stage 1 of the project.
You Tube clip below: Julie Collins visited Lightwood Park to announce a $3m commitment to Lightwood Park from an Albanese government
It was a delight to host some Federal Labor politicians on 26 April at Clennett’s Lightwood.
With Stage 1 of the Lightwood Park redevelopment reaching completion and Stage 2 underway, the promise of $3 Million to be invested into Kingborough Lions United Football Club’s Lightwood Park Development was very welcome.
Federal Member for Franklin, Julie Collins MP and Senator Catryna Bilyk have been long time supporters and advocates for our Football Club for which we are truly thankful.
Very excited to announce today that if elected an Albanese Labor Government will invest $3 million to upgrade facilities at Lightwood Park, helping the Kingborough Lions United Football Club continue to grow. This investment will help support Football Tasmania’s aspiration for the facility to be a base camp for the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 and will help the club meet the incredible growth in female participation in the sport. I know what a difference the Club makes to the local community in Kingborough so I’m so pleased Labor is committing this support.
Julie Collins MP
Your Tube clip below: Julie Collins visited Lightwood Park yesterday to announce a $3m commitment to Lightwood Park from an Albanese government
Kingborough Lions United Football Club congratulates Holly Bonertz-Benn, Eloise Paine and Kate Bonertz-Benn who have been successful in securing placements to pursue their football development interstate in 2022. All three of the ‘triplets’ have secured positions in full time football programs whilst they undertake their college studies.
Eloise will be working with Sydney FC Academy staff in the High Performance football program at Endeavour Sports High School (an official Sydney FC Academy school in Sutherland Shire, Sydney). She will be playing for Sydney University Soccer FC, (a Football NSW Women’s NPL 1 club in the U18 Girls Youth League 1 competition).
Eloise has shown incredible dedication and resliance, having dealt with setbacks from a shock cancer diagnosis in November 2019 and pushing through over 55 weeks of Chemo.
Holly and Kate have moved to Brisbane having been accepted into the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) NTC program for 2022 and the Kelvin Grove State High School football excellence program.
We feel like this is the best move for us with the overall goal of playing professional football and representing our nation. We are very thankful for Kingborough Lions and Football TAS, and all that these programs have done for us.
Holly and Kate
Kate, Eloise & Holly have been with the Lions since they were juniors (Kate and Holly coming to the Lions from the Cygnet Sea Dragons in 2016) and have worked through our SAP and Youth Academy programs where they have been recognised by being selected multiple times for Tasmanian teams.
In early 2021 Kate, Eloise and Holly were named in the extended Junior Matilda’s squad during a disappointing 2021 which saw football activities hampered by COVID.
The work ethic, belief and passion for the game that Holly, Kate and Eloise have continued to demonstrate has been, and continues to be, inspirational.
Simon Edwards – Technical Director KLUFC
We are proud to have had the opportunity provide the programs and environment to support these young women in their football development and wish them continued success on their way to fulfilling their football dreams. Roar with the Pride !
