Sport
19 June, 2026
Maryborough Soccer Club secures interim home at MKM’s Ron Sinclair Oval
The Maryborough Soccer Club has found a temporary solution to their full-length pitch crisis thanks to the MKM Cricket Club offering Ron Sinclair Oval for the rest of 2026.
Following a pitch inspection conducted by Football Victoria on Tuesday, May 19, Jubilee Oval was deemed unsafe for full-length pitch matches due to the hardness of the cricket pitch cover installed by the Central Goldfields Shire Council.
While under eight, under nine, under 11 and under 12s are still able to host games at Jubilee Oval, the recent ruling left the club scrambling to secure a home for their under 14s, under 16s and senior team.
Maryborough Soccer Club committee member Jackson Barby was among the players, coaches, parents and volunteers who suddenly had to travel out to Ballarat for rescheduled “home” matches.
With the club’s decades-long desire to secure a permanent home still unfulfilled, Barby said it was extremely disappointing to see several of its teams suddenly become homeless.
“It’s now become sort of an ongoing joke, even between the opposition teams and they’re reaching out, offering their pitch because they just cannot believe this has been going on so long,” he said.
“You kind of find yourself one step forward and two steps back, and it’s very disheartening.
“If your kid says they want to play soccer, a town our size should be able to provide space for them to play.
“Our volunteers deserve all the credit in the world because they work bloody hard and they keep getting these setbacks. They feel like they’re not getting the support, but they keep getting up and going again.”
Seeing their plight, MKM’s committee felt emboldened to give the soccer club a helping hand, offering their facilities free of charge.
The club offered a similar solution to the Maryborough Cricket Club during the 2025/26 MDCA season, allowing them to use their home ground while four brand-new turf cricket pitches were being implemented at Princes Park.
“MKM has always been there to support the community with anything we can,” MKM Cricket Club president Kushal Khamar said.
“They’ve got a decent amount of people playing soccer, but they don’t have a ground they can call home, and the poor people are travelling to Ballarat pretty much every time they have to play a home game.
“Knowing all of this, we were like, that’s a bit unfair. How come you don’t have a home ground?”
While Ron Sinclair Oval is a significant lifeline, the club will now be running out of two home bases for the remainder of the season, adding another challenge to their volunteer base.
Both clubs have also expressed concern about what damage soccer could do to the oval’s cricket pitch.
While those worries will be assessed week to week, Khamar said MKM remains open to providing further assistance to the soccer club depending on how the temporary agreement fares.
“This is a trial to see how things go, because one of the biggest concerns we have currently is our pitch. That’s the biggest asset we have and soccer being played over that could damage the pitch,” he said.
“While this is a trial, our long-term thought process is to see if there is a potential where the soccer club and MKM Cricket Club could probably play together and become a diverse club.”
Barby shared similar sentiments to Khamar while expressing gratitude for MKM’s generous accommodation.
“As unfortunate as it is that we’ve got to this point through a lack of support, it is good to see that in times of disadvantage, resilience is born and there’s a lot of resilience in our community,” he said.
“(MKM) are trying to make it as easy as possible for us because they just want to see soccer played in town. For another club from another sporting code to be pushing that sort of positivity is really uplifting.
“We want to make it work for MKM. They’re very keen to make it work for us as well, and who knows what the future might bring.
“Obviously, there’s been a big push for us to be at Jubilee long term, but this could be another option.
“We obviously are cautious not to do any damage to the cricket pitch. We played under 14s up there last weekend, and the surface was really good, but we want to see how it holds up after a senior game.”
Regardless of whether the trial proves successful, Barby said the last few months have exemplified Maryborough’s need for a permanent soccer home to secure the sport’s future locally.
“We found a temporary solution at MKM, but the bigger question remains. What’s the long-term solution?” he said.
“I’ve been on this campaign for over 10 years now, and we still feel like we’re back at square one because we’re still looking for a ground to play in Maryborough.
“Whether it’s Jubilee, whether it’s MKM, whether it’s a random paddock somewhere in town, we need to decide where is going to be the home of soccer forever.
“We have to weigh up all options now, and I think that’s the challenge now as a club. We’ve got the community behind us, we need to come together with Football Victoria, we need the council to back us, and we need to make a decision.
“Once we get that permanent base, then we as a club, which has got a very strong committee, can then work on getting grant funding to build some facilities that we can be proud of.”