Sport
14 November, 2022
Rovers receive netball election promise
Maryborough Rovers were the beneficiary of good news on Thursday, with Member for Ripon Louise Staley promising $450,000 for the upgrade of Rovers’ disused netball courts at Princes Park should the Liberals win the upcoming election. Staley was...
Maryborough Rovers were the beneficiary of good news on Thursday, with Member for Ripon Louise Staley promising $450,000 for the upgrade of Rovers’ disused netball courts at Princes Park should the Liberals win the upcoming election.
Staley was joined by Rovers’ netball representative Rachael Raven and Maryborough Tennis Club’s Heather Carr for the announcement, which would see two synthetic all-weather multipurpose tennis and netball courts completed with improved lighting.
The announcement is the second major investment for Rovers in 2022, with $400,000 already pledged in the state budget earlier in the year, which formed part of the Masterplan for Princes Park under the guidance of the Central Goldfields Shire Council.
Staley said the announcement will ensure netball has a “bright future” in the town.
“Our commitments will ensure that there is a bright future for netball in Maryborough; Maryborough Rovers will now have two permanent home courts, which will encourage more children to get involved in playing this great game,” she said.
“Netball is the leading team sport for women and girls in Victoria. For the past seven years, the Maryborough Rovers netball courts have remained empty due to cracks making the surface too unsafe to play on.”
Raven couldn’t hide the thrill of the pledge, which would give Rovers the ability to use two netball courts instead of choosing between one court with lights and two courts with no lights.
“It’s really exciting. The $400,000 announcement earlier in the year was very exciting, but with the costings, it was coming up short, so it only meant we could have one court with lights, or two courts with no lights, so it was a hard thing to work with, so this is wonderful,” she said.
Raven said that after seven years of having to shift games due to the unusability of the courts, the announcement was long overdue.
“I think everyone forgets that we’re a club that hasn’t had a court for seven years. Everyone else has been able to play on their court and generate their income. Roughly, we’ve been losing about $10,000 a year. I think to be recognised that we are in desperate need, as one of the only clubs in Victoria without a home netball court, is wonderful,” she said.
“Seven years has been a long time for the club to not have a court. There’s more travelling for the parents and it’s a lot harder for the volunteer base when you’re not together with the footballers. I think this can reunite the club with the footballers and netballers playing together.
“We’ve been working hard for seven years instead of going to the shire and complain. Heather (Carr) and myself have been quite active in getting reports done and trying to seek funding. To get acknowledged is really good, but it’s a shame that it’s taken so long, whereas other announcements have been made, and we feel we have been forgotten.”
Raven added that she feels Rovers are in it for the long haul, with the announcement potentially helping to improve player retention and recruitment.
“There’s always talk of too many clubs in the towns. If you’re the one without a court, you’ll be the one that’s the talk of being taken down and you feel like a bit of a target. This will give us a bit of momentum and show people that we’re not going away,” she said.
Carr added that the announcement was exciting, and a step in the right direction, and will look to leverage this for added improvements to the tennis centre.
“We’ve been working very hard for seven years campaigning to improve tennis courts, as part of the Maryborough Tennis Centre, with Maryborough Rovers using the facility for netball since 2000,” she said.
“Today’s announcement is exciting, but we’re still pursuing major funding for tennis court upgrades, as we don’t have any lights at the moment for tennis competition and coaching.
“It’s a step in the right direction, but there is still more work to be done.”
Carr said she hopes that the announcement will lead to added opportunities for tennis to eventually thrive in the town.
“We have competitions that run 12 months of the year, and because we haven’t had light towers since March this year, we haven’t been able to run it over winter. We have a professional Tennis Australia coach that works here all year, and he hasn’t been able to offer tennis coaching programs in the darker months, which has compromised participation in winter programs,” she said.