After the season that didn’t happen, it’s great to know the local Football and Netball are happening in 2021. The first home game for the Lorne Football & Netball Club (LFNC) will be held at Stribling Reserve on Easter Saturday, April 3. Traditionally this has become known as the “blockbuster”. Lorne will compete against Alvie and it will be great to see people gather once more at Stribling Reserve to enjoy the netball and football competitions.
This year, things are going to be just a little bit different though. We are in the midst of a major project to redevelop facilities for netballers, footballers and spectators. What’s going to be different?
We have a brand new, state of the art Netball Pavilion. The new pavilion was handed over last week, and Senator Sarah Henderson will join us on Thursday, April 1 at 4pm to perform the official opening.
What we don’t have is a Leisure Centre with football change rooms and other facilities. The old Leisure Centre has been demolished and all that stands there is the basketball stadium. Foundations for the concrete slab are in place and work is progressing. For the 2021 season, the netballers are fine, they have a new facility with rooms for home and away and umpires with each space containing its own showers and toilets. In the words of the President and Senior Coach of Netball, Carly Enticott, “this is just amaaazing!”
But we still have a dilemma: how do we make things as comfortable as we can for football players, umpires and spectator? Fortunately, our small town boasts such a diverse array of talents and capabilities and people who are prepared to “pitch in”. Chris Burton has been the Site Manager for Falls Festival for many years and has been responsible for the installation of temporary facilities each year. His main claim to fame is coordinating the shift of the Falls Festival from its traditional site to Mt Duneed in 24 hours when Lorne and surrounds was faced with the threat of bushfire 2015/16. Chris has planned and arranged for installation of a spectator marquee in the carpark above the Oval and marquees, with showers and toilets for players around the site of the cricket nets. The Men’s Shed have generously agreed to make facilities available for umpires.
Lee Hollmer, President of the Lorne Football and Netball Club and Director of Hollmer Plumbing and Boe Trickey of Trickey Brothers are working with us to provide hot water for the players’ showers and to look after disposal of wastewater from the showers. Len Tank of Lorne Electrics is providing powers to all facilities for spectators and players. During a recent site inspection, it was interesting to observe both Lee and Len peering over the fence to the old ambulance building and commenting on the power switchboard and the waste pipes. They had the idea that if we could utilise those facilities it would make things so much easier, and we would save considerably on the additional facilities we would have needed to hire.
And that’s where Ambulance Victoria came in. A quick call to one of our local ambulance officers and we had the contact details of who we needed to talk to in Melbourne to get approval to utilise their facilities. Next thing, we have a memorandum of Understanding with Ambulance Victoria arranged by their Property Development Manager, who in discussions, was only to pleased to support our request, stating, “we are all part of the community, aren’t we?”
So, Easter Saturday is set to go. New, taller goal posts have been installed, the new electronic scoreboard which hasn’t had much of a run yet will be fired up and there will be comfortable facilities for footy players and spectators alike.
The icing on the cake? In order to minimise the costs of temporary facilities, the League has agreed that Lorne can play its home games of nine consecutive weeks. That’s right, nine home games in a row! Another example of that spirit of collaboration and cooperation in the community to just “make something happen”. So now it’s over to you, the spectators to come along and support local footy and netball. All Clubs suffered financially in 2020 and we need 2021 to be a successful season for the future of the Club. Because of COVID restrictions there is a limit of 5,000 spectators in attendance at any game. Furthermore, there are not to be any spectators on the ground. These restrictions will impact the Easter Saturday blockbuster, but for the other eight home games we need to see numbers higher than we would normally experience. 2021 is the year the Club needs your support. Come along and enjoy the ambience of facilities quite unlike anything you have experienced at Lorne.
In years to come, when spectators are standing on the balcony of the new two storey main pavilion watching the game, the person next to you will ask, “Do you remember that year when were watched the game from a marquee in the car park?” You’ll want to be able to respond, “I remember it well. What a great atmosphere!”
See you at Stribling for nine games in a row starting Easter Saturday.
Pete Spring
Chairman
Stribling Reserve Community Asset Committee
