Sport
3 November, 2022
Labor announces election funding promise for Hedges Oval, Princes Park grounds upgrades
Significant upgrades have been pledged towards Princes Park and Hedges Oval if Labor wins the upcoming state election, with a combined $1 million promised for both grounds. Minister for Sport, Steve Dimopoulos, and Labor candidate for Ripon, Marth...
Significant upgrades have been pledged towards Princes Park and Hedges Oval if Labor wins the upcoming state election, with a combined $1 million promised for both grounds.
Minister for Sport, Steve Dimopoulos, and Labor candidate for Ripon, Martha Haylett, stopped by the grounds this week to pledge $450,000 towards a netball court upgrade, including improved lighting and seating at Hedges Oval, while $550,000 was promised towards a female-friendly change-room extension at Princes Park.
Speaking during the announcements, Mr Dimopoulos hinted that the funding promise could open the door for appearances by the Australian Diamonds national netball team, who Victoria have recently announced a multi-million dollar sponsorship deal with.
“We have shown a consistent record of backing community sport for eight years, and Martha’s advocacy has absolutely got us to a point where we are committing $1 million worth for facilities in this area if we are re-elected,” he said.
“In a country community, a sports club is the central hub of the community. We all know and we all value the benefits of kids playing sports — their leadership skills, their confidence and their ability to relate to each other and socialising, apart from their physical health.
“So, investing in this brings so much benefit to the community, both for kids and adults who spend their day here. It’s important for us across the board, as it means the community has a sense of pride for their local netball team and their local football team, and if you couple that with the sponsorship package with the Australian Diamonds, this community will have the best facilities to have the Diamonds come and work with them.
“If Martha is elected, I would be very pleased to work with her to bring the Diamonds for these community programs.
“The local teams’ ability to access professional sportspeople in the community is so important, because you can’t be what you can’t see. For the potential of the Diamonds to work with regional sporting communities, I think it’s inspiring. These young kids might be playing netball for recreation, but they may also be inspired by professional athletes who come here and play a game on these courts.”
Royal Park Football Netball’s Kate Balzan was pleased with the pledge, saying that with all their junior teams making finals, investing time into them with upgraded facilities at Hedges Oval would be the next important step.
“It’s great. It will mean we can continue to keep up with other clubs, and support our juniors and be inclusive for all,” she said.
“All our junior netballers made finals, but the promise here of funding is a reward for the club, which was much needed.
“The best thing for us is it’s the ability to say we have the promise of great facilities going forward, the juniors are important for us and we’re focusing on that in the long term. So to be able to tell families we are inclusive of all and be able to provide these facilities mean that more people will have the potential to continue on.
“This is also a place where we play finals, so from the league’s perspective, to potentially be able to upgrade these courts for finals would be really exciting as well.”
Likewise, Maryborough Football Netball Club counterpart Kelvin Noonan was pleased by the promise of funding towards Princes Park.
“This is extremely important. We are all moving towards a female-friendly environment in terms of our sporting facilities, and this is a big step for the Maryborough Football Netball Club and Maryborough Cricket Club for their junior development and senior development of women’s football and women’s cricket. Women also are a big part of the Energy Breakthrough and Highland Games every year, and they are the two biggest events we could think of here, so it’s really important from that point of view that we have adequate facilities for all,” he said.
“It’s important that the council understands that opportunities like this are few and far between in terms of investment by the state government for facilities, as they have a huge canvas to cover throughout the state. This one has been neglected for some time — and it can’t afford to be neglected any further. We welcome any opportunity to make sure Princes Park is kept to the standards it needs to be kept.
“The beauty of Princes Park is it doesn’t just cover sport; it covers the entire community and other associated events that occurs here.
“That should be the priority of the council, and it needs to be acutely aware to spend whatever money we get in the best possible way. “It’s good to see we are getting recognition from the government at the moment — it’s important that we are able to showcase this place to them so they can see where money could be spent.”
Ms Haylett said she was please to make the funding commitment.
“The Royal Park facilities were last upgraded in 1992, 30 years ago, so they are over the moon and happy about the promise of new facilities. There are a lot of women and girls that use the courts, and they are not fit for purpose anymore, so it’s fantastic that we’ve been able to give them a pledge that if the Andrews government is re-elected, we will be able to give them new netball facilities,” she said.
“Princes Park is the heart of Maryborough. It’s loved by all locals, and it’s the treasure of the town. We want to make sure it has fit-for-purpose facilities, but also for girls and women.”