This cricket club has added a women's team, but without facilities for female players it's worried they'll leave

For many members of the Margate Cricket Club's first women's team, this is their first crack at playing the game.

"Everyone is obviously learning as we go, and we're having so much fun, we're not taking it too seriously," Lauren Tollard-Williams said.

" It's a really nice place to be when we're all learning how to play. "

Maddi Stanfield and Lauren Tollard-Williams are enjoying playing as part of Margate's first women's cricket team. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

The women's team has given Maddi Stanfield a chance to get off the sidelines.

"Just being around the club for the year or so beforehand and knowing they're going to have a women's team starting up … it was almost a no-brainer [to join]," Ms Stanfield said.

"I'm either going to go and watch the women's game or I'm going to go and play in the women's game.

"[I thought], 'let's give it a crack, nothing to lose'."

Rise in participation poses a challenge

The club now has seven teams, up from five last year.

However, limited facilities at the southern Tasmanian club have made the rise in participation a challenge.

The Margate Cricket Club has just one change room. (ABC News: Sophie Jaggers)

The club only has one change room for its 55 members — including more than 10 women — forcing members to change on the balcony, or at home before arriving at the club.

"Juniors don't have anywhere to get changed. Women don't have anywhere to get changed. It's just not suitable for what we need," Margate Cricket Club President Emerson Booth said.

"It's in dire need of an upgrade."

The Margate Cricket Club president says the club needs support to upgrade facilities for its women players. (ABC News: Sophie Jaggers)

The women's team plays on gala days, where up to six teams use the club's facilities.

Ms Stanfield said it was "a general rule" that players "turn up in their cricket digs".

"If you're playing a game in 10 minutes you don't want to have to be in line [waiting for] the toilet to be free.

"So you turn up in your clothes or get dressed in the car and then pad up."

The club says its facilities are in "dire need of an upgrade". (ABC News: Sophie Jaggers)

Mr Booth said he was concerned that without support to upgrade its facilities, the club risked losing players.

"Being our inaugural team, we're just worried that they go to opposition clubs [where] the facilities are way better.

" To be honest, I wouldn't blame them if they went somewhere else, because I don't think it's a safe environment. "

Participation in women's sport continues to grow

Women's participation in team sport is increasing across the country.

"Over the last five to 10 years there's been a shift at a national and also worldwide level," Womensport & Recreation Tasmania president Jo Bailey said.

"That's been mirrored in Tasmania."

Jo Bailey says women's participation in team sport is continuing to grow. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

In 2024-25, 913 women and girls participated in cricket across the state, a number that has increased by 16 per cent from 2022-23.

According to a 2023 audit by Cricket Tasmania, 28 per cent of the state's cricket facilities were gender inclusive, 26 per cent were not, while the status of 46 per cent of facilities was unknown.

It was a similar story for AFL facilities.

A 2019 audit found just 25 per cent included female-friendly change rooms, while 75 per cent were assessed as being unsuitable for gender-neutral use.

There are fears that without support to upgrade facilities for women, players will go to other clubs. (ABC News: Sophie Jaggers)

Inadequate facilities can 'shoot down' participation

Ms Bailey said inadequate facilities were a "major issue".

"We hear stories of girls having to get changed in the car because they don't want to go into a men's change room or a men's toilet," she said.

"It's an issue that is improving, but it's still there, and we've still got a way to go."

Ms Bailey said it was just one of many barriers to women's team sport participation in Australia, along with financial and self-confidence factors — the latter particularly among younger women.

Maddi Stanfield says women's participation in sport needs to be encouraged. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)

Ms Stanfield said women's participation in sport was important to "emphasise and encourage".

"You want to be able to encourage that engagement in sport, because it's so important to stay healthy," she said.

The Tasmanian government has announced a Women and Girls in Sport Strategy, which is aimed at identifying and removing barriers to participation, such as unsuitable facilities.

Ms Bailey said the strategy was a 'fantastic step'.

"I think having that and encouraging people to [give] information and ideas and feedback in is a really strong step."

She said "empowering sporting organisations" with information and support would be key in encouraging more women and girls to participate.

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