Hawthorn Football Club and the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS) today announced an exciting partnership allowing VIS athletes access to training facilities at Waverley Park.

Hawthorn will give access to VIS scholarship recipients based in the east and south-eastern region of Melbourne to the Club’s state-of-the-art facilities including the gymnasium, swimming pool, lecture theatre and oval.

The Minister for Sport, Recreation and Youth Affairs James Merlino said, “This is fantastic all round outcome with VIS athletes having additional access to state-of-the-art equipment, giving training opportunities a major boost.”

Hawthorn Chief Executive Ian Robson said the Club was pleased to build a relationship with the VIS and their athletes.

“This announcement demonstrates Hawthorn’s commitment to its partnership working and we are delighted that our world class facility at Waverley Park has come about with assistance from the Government, VIS and AFL.”

“At a time of scrutiny as to the ability of Victorian AFL teams to be as viable as their interstate rivals it’s very topical that our state-of-the-art facilities provide Hawthorn coaching staff and playing group with the essential high quality off-field infrastructure,” he said.

VIS Chief Executive Anne Marie Harrison said the partnership would allow athletes access to elite training facilities.

“The partnership will provide preparation, recovery and training facilities for athletes in the performance pathway, and the VIS will continue to work with the Hawthorn Football Club to see how we can best utilise their facilities to benefit Victoria’s elite athletes.”

It was announced in June last year that seven Victorian clubs would receive a combined $55 million funding boost from the AFL, State Government, clubs and local government to upgrade suburban AFL grounds, transforming existing club facilities into multi-purpose sport and recreation venues suitable for a range of community initiatives.

The total Waverley project required $1.5m to fund and the Club committed $1m. The AFL tipped in $250k with the remaining $250k provided by the State Government to complete the facilities at Waverley for community use.