Sport
27 October, 2022
Dunolly FNC receives grant to help build new netball courts and improve club facilities
Dunolly Football Netball Club is set to become recipients of a grant that will help them rebuild their netball courts, with Labor providing just under $728,000 for future use. Member for Western Victoria Jaala Pulford was on hand to make the...
Dunolly Football Netball Club is set to become recipients of a grant that will help them rebuild their netball courts, with Labor providing just under $728,000 for future use.
Member for Western Victoria Jaala Pulford was on hand to make the announcement, joined by Labor candidate for Ripon Martha Haylett, Central Goldfields Shire Council mayor Chris Meddows-Taylor and councillor Liesbeth Long.
The grant will see their netball courts rebuilt with a new surface, as well as improvements to the tennis court, new shelters, LED lighting to improve light around the court, and proper fencing.
Pulford said she was looking forward to the announcement helping to transform the Dunolly Football Netball Club in the near future.
“It’s just shy of a million-dollar project. What I have been shown and the issues this will fix is the movement of the ground underneath these old gold mining communities,” she said.
“What this project does is completely redo the substructure, by ripping up the court, resetting the ground underneath and building a new court. There will be two netball and one tennis court, some shelters, some beautiful LED lighting and some fencing as well. We look forward to working with the community for their ambitions for the facilities more broadly.
“Whilst we are getting close to the state elections, this is fully funded from a program that is being delivered now. This grant will be paid to the council, who will manage the project, so they can get started as soon as they can get the contractors lined up.”
Pulford said it was a credit to the hard-working committee at Dunolly which has helped bring forth their ideas to life, with the potential of more announcements to come.
“The community, the reserve committee and the football and netball club committee have got some really big ideas and plans, and they have developed and brought them a long way. It is a very exciting vision for the whole area, such as the clubroom vision that have the day-to-day sport benefits, but also community benefits. We look forward to working with them to advance that, but this first million dollars will be a big start,” she said.
Cr Long, who is a regular at Dunolly matches, is extremely pleased with the outcome for the club.
“It is a dream come true. The courts were in dire need of a complete overhaul. To see the money allocated actually allocated is fantastic for the community,” she said.
“The club has gone from strength to strength this year, even after two years of COVID. The teams are full, they are doing a fantastic job, one of them was top of the ladder. To be able to get brand new facilities for them is fantastic, and will do wonders for them.”
Like Pulford, Cr Long was pleased for the community to see their hard work come to fruition.
“I’m super proud of the Dunolly people. They work hard and they are tireless. I think they grasp the value of having a community club like this as a place where everyone can come — it’s a safe place, it’s a welcoming place, you see people who turn up and they are treated like long-lost friends,” she said.
“It is such an institution — my husband grew up here, playing footy, and I totally get that mindset. Dunolly certain has passion, and I think this is the result, that things are being built, and funding is being given, because they are working hard. It’s that sort of commitment that gets noticed. I do think it’s the passion they have that gets them over the line.”