IONA College has become the first school to win the prestigious Australian Football League’s Ken Gannon Community Football Facility Award for 2025.
Since its inception in 2019, the award recognises best practice in community football facility development across Australia, along with the people, clubs and other stakeholders driving the best projects.
Iona College, a high school in Brisbane’s bayside was awarded the prize following the installation of 120 lux floodlight sportsfield lighting. The lighting, installed in July 2025, services an MGC size playing field and adjacent training space, allowing up to seven teams to simultaneously train across two ovals. The new lights also cater for evening matches, with Iona College becoming the first school in the Associated Independent Colleges (AIC) competition to have the capability to do so.
The local Australian rules football community will also benefit from the lights installation following Iona’s partnership with Morningside Panthers AFC. The Panthers are one of the largest Australian rules football community clubs, with more than 1,500 registered participants and 60 teams and have been in need of additional greenspace to support their substantial growth.
This partnership between the school and club will see more than 1,000 hours of community access available annually.
The project was funded through Iona College, the AFL’s Breaking New Ground Partnership and AFL Queensland’s Grand Final Facilities Fund.
AFL Head of Venue Network Enhancements and Partnerships, Shayne Ward congratulated everyone involved in the Iona College project, along with all the national finalists.
“On behalf of the AFL I’d like to congratulate Iona College on winning the Ken Gannon Community Football Facility Award for 2025, as well as all the finalists who took home their state and territory titles,” he said.
“Iona College’s lighting project is a perfect example of what’s possible through the Breaking New Ground program, which is about improving existing spaces for football utilisation.
“This area of Brisbane is fast-growing, with participation rates increasing each year.
“The lighting installation, paired with community access agreements, will extend the available hours of Australian rules football utilisation in the area, while providing state of the art upgrades to the school.
“This is a great outcome for both the sport and the school.”
Head of AFL Queensland Richie Lyons said Iona College’s floodlight project will play a key role in maintaining participation growth in the region.
“I congratulate Iona College on winning this prestigious award, the second year in a row for a Queensland facility,” he said.
“Through the installation of these lights and engagement with local community football, Iona College are enhancing facility capacity by catering to the increasing participation in the region and reducing the pressure on existing community club facilities.
“Morningside is one of the largest community clubs in Australia and are experiencing significant growth in the women and girls and juniors space.
“Allowing Morningside access to Iona’s playing fields, has alleviated pressure on available greenspace for participants and ultimately will allow more people to have the opportunity to love and connect with our game.
“Congratulations to Iona and thank you to the Queensland Government as this would not have been possible without their support of AFL Queensland’s Grand Final Facilities Fund.”
Queensland Minister for Sport and Racing and Minister for the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Tim Mander said the award highlighted Queensland’s reputation as the home of Australian sport and the importance of investing in grassroots facilities ahead of the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“Congratulations to Iona College on becoming the first school to receive the AFL’s Ken Gannon Community Football Facility Award for 2025,” Minister Mander said.
“Queensland is the home of Australian sport and recognition like this shows the strength of community sport right across our state.
“This is exactly what we want to see as we build towards the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, schools and clubs working together to create more opportunities for Queenslanders to get active and get involved in sport.”
Iona College Principal Trevor Goodwin said the school was honoured to win such a prestigious award.
“Iona always has our community at heart, so when the opportunity came to partner with the AFL to deliver this project to benefit our students and young families across our region, we were delighted to be involved,” he said.
“To have that commitment to community honoured nationally today with the Ken Gannon Award, particularly in the context of the quality of this year’s other finalists and being the first school in Australia to win the award, is just incredible.
“Such a prestigious award speaks volumes about the significance of this project in regard to its community impact, as well as Iona’s wonderful partnership with the AFL and the hard work of so many people who brought this project to fruition.
“Iona is blessed with wonderful facilities, and our AFL complex at St Eugene’s Park is certainly a source of pride for our students. Thanks to this project and partnership with the AFL, we are able to share these facilities at a greater capacity in service of our community.”