Sport to grow with facilities upgrade

THE City of Ballarat’s draft budget for 2022 to 2023 includes a boost to cricket and rugby club amenities at Delacombe’s Doug Dean Reserve.

A changeroom upgrade worth $700,000 would be built off the back of Doug Dean Stadium, adjacent to the oval, and include facilities appropriate for both male and female, junior and senior athletes within VRI Delacombe Cricket Club and Ballarat Highlanders Rugby Club.

VRI’s president Tom Nichols said the current shared clubrooms, which are about 40 years old, are no longer appropriate for teams to use and don’t have female changerooms.

“This upgrade will be massive for us. We currently have no room for female cricket at our club with the changerooms we have,” he said.

“We’ve got a female cricketer who can’t get changed here, and we’ve barely got female toilets, so new changerooms will open up a whole new avenue of cricket for us.

“Our end goal is to get junior girls’ cricket into the club, and develop that into senior women’s cricket.”

Highlanders vice-captain Ryan Spedding said the rugby club is keen to do the same and add junior and women’s rugby to their offerings.

“This is something we’ve wanted to do for a long time, but with one changeroom, we don’t have space to support that, so once we have new facilities, we can grow,” he said.

City of Ballarat deputy-mayor Cr Amy Johnson inclusive and accessible recreation facilities are “greatly deserved” in Delacombe, one of the municipality’s fastest-growing suburbs.

“Both clubs and their members have done their best over many years to make the most of a dilapidated building for changerooms, storage and social space,” she said.

“They’ve been advocating for upgrades to their facilities for a long time and I’m so pleased to be supporting them to achieve this.

“We know that active and engaged communities are healthier and happier. One of the key ways we can encourage participation is through enhancing our facilities and infrastructure.”

If the budget is approved by councillors in June, this dated building would be demolished. The project is expected to begin early next year.