SPORT

By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT

 

FOR sports clubs across the region, some of which are more than 100 years old, staying up to date in the digital world is crucial.

Traralgon Rovers Cricket Club was one of the successful recipients of Aussie Broadband’s Community Cricket Tech Fund, ensuring tech connection across all nine of its teams.

The $100,000 grants, in collaboration with Cricket Australia, gave respective clubs the choice of either 12 months of free fixed broadband connectivity or 12 months of free 5G data SIM and a Samsung S11 ultra tablet.

Choosing the latter, Rovers now has the capability to provide live scoring across multiple teams, allowing its members who aren’t able to get out to the grounds on the weekend the ability to stay updated during summer.

Rovers Cricket Club Vice President Steve Carney called it “a game-changer for the club”, especially for its C Grade side, that play its games away from Rovers’ home base at Duncan Cameron Reserve.

“It’s fantastic that Aussie Broadband, being a local company, are supporting the local sports clubs and other community groups in the region with grants like this,” he said.

“By us winning this grant and having the tablet, it allows us to utilise our C Grade when playing away with live scoring events and keeping in touch in a digital age.”

Carney also said it simultaneously removes the financial hit during the current cost-of-living crisis and alleviates further strain on volunteers with a more seamless use.

The Cricket Latrobe Valley club features A Grade, B Grade, C Grade, a senior women’s team, mixed under 16s and U10s sides, as well as Woolworths Cricket Blast.

Some of the Rovers junior players were on deck, treated to a special appearance by local cricketing export Peter Siddle, for the launch.

Siddle made the trip back home to the region on behalf of Cricket Australia, as a former Test cricketer himself, promoting the opportunity with Aussie Broadband.

“I think it’s great, being a country boy and growing up knowing all the work and effort that goes into running the community clubs around here and all around the country, to try and get funds get systems in place,” he said.

“The big one now with technology is that everyone’s checking their phone trying to chase scores.

“That’s the big connection with Aussie Broadband and cricket is being able to access (that so) clubs can get that stuff online, people can follow scores live, which is something back in our day, we wouldn’t have thought of.

“You had to wait for the paper the next day to find out the scores.”

With humble beginning in a Morwell loungeroom, and its head offices recently relocating to Traralgon, Aussie Broadband Chief Financial, Darren Rowland said grants like this provide another opportunity to give back.

“Funding local sporting clubs with lightning fast broadband help them keep going take the pressure off the committees that volunteer,” he said.