LIAM DURKIN
SPORT
By LIAM DURKIN
ALMOST five years of frustration was finally put to rest last week, when the new Traralgon Recreation Reserve pavilion was officially opened.
The new structure was made necessary after the June 2021 floods left the previous two-storey pavilion uninhabitable.
What followed was a tiresome and seemingly never-ending saga involving design plans and budget constraints.
As each year passed however, it became clear a resolution needed to be reached.
The journey ended last Friday, when user groups, Latrobe City Council and local politicians were on hand to unveil the plaque.
Deputy mayor Dale Harriman led proceedings, acknowledging the collaborative effort of council, the state government and Sport and Recreation Victoria in seeing the project come to fruition.
Sport and Recreation Victoria contributed $2.75 million, with the remaining balance of the $6.7 million project coming from state and local government funds and grants.
The new flood-proof facility is elevated some five metres from ground level.
Inside is a spacious boxing gym and media box with panoramic views of the oval.
Change facilities run back-to-back and side-to-side.
Football change rooms face the oval, while netball change rooms are located directly opposite, and can be accessed via the fire track.
A new netball court is under construction to the north of the pavilion, near where the previous canteen was located.
Netballers finally have proper change room facilities, after decades of putting up with primitive alternatives.
The new canteen operates within the pavilion, while a new social space is also located inside the complex.
Football changeroom space is much smaller compared to the old home rooms, with both home and visitors rooms measuring around 10 by eight metres. However, considering what the club has dealt with for the last five years, there is really no cause for complaint.
The new rooms struck a particular accord with Member for Morwell and champion Traralgon footballer Martin Cameron.
“It’s been a long journey, just shy of 1800 days the club’s been without rooms,” he said.
“For them to put up with that and go through the process of not having change rooms, working out of portables, and opposition teams graciously coming and using the portables on a Saturday, to have a facility like this that caters for our male and female footy sides and our six netball sides, it’s an outstanding achievement by all from right across the board.”
Traralgon FNC had its first run in the new rooms in Round 1 of the Gippsland League a fortnight ago.
“It was a happy day, the president Kev Foley and vice president Natalie Jaensch were smiling on Saturday night, it’s just a job complete,” Cameron said.
“There’s been some heartache along the way, such a long process to get here.
“They’ll be relieved, now they can set the rooms up the way they want. We had the Gippsland League commit straight away to having the grand final back here again in September. I’m sure that North Gippsland will be looking at coming back and using the venue.”
Quite poignantly, the heavy downpour that came for the first round of the season gave the new rooms an ideal test run.
“We had a fair amount of rain on the Saturday night, so it was a friendly reminder of why we have the new facility,” Cameron said.
How the facility was delivered – Page 25
