Cash Ballarat’s for sporting codes

SPORTING associations from across the region have shared in a significant pool of money from a State government grant scheme.

Over $76,000 from the Community Sport Sector COVID-19 Short-term Survival Package was split between organisations like AFL Goldfields, the Central Highland Football League, the Ballarat Football League, and the Ballarat Football Umpires Association.

Other coordinating groups to receive money include the region’s badminton, table tennis, volleyball, and lacrosse associations and Midlands District Amateur Swimming.

Ballarat Football Umpires Association chair Justin Davey while the organisation didn’t have grounds to maintain or other outgoings linked to running a club, the $7500 would go towards a range of activities run by the group.

“It means we can concentrate a lot on recruitment and retention, which is very important, we require a lot of members to cover the leagues we do,” he said.

“We’re a bit worried about what having a year off footy might do to our numbers.

“We’ve also got things like training equipment and other stuff that we might need due to COVID. This will be a real kick start to get us going next year.”

Last season the BFUA had about 340 members who officiated across five leagues, including the BFL, CHFL and the region’s women’s comp.

That means umpires have to go as far as Sunbury in the east, Navarre in the west and down to Rokewood in the south to ref matches.

“This year we never really got up and going in a full capacity, so we don’t know how many members we would have had in 2020, but we were probably looking at getting a few more had the season progressed in a normal fashion,” Davey said.

“And we need that many and could probably do with a few more. It’s a big area that we cover.”

Across the state the BFUA was one of 200 overarching sporting organisations to receive money under the Community Sport Sector COVID-19 Short-term Survival Package scheme.

The grants between $5000 and $10,000 were in addition to $1000 given to thousands of clubs at the grassroots level over the last few months.

Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison said the money was aimed at keeping local sport alive during the pandemic.

“Ensuring our community sport and active recreation organisations survive this crisis and come back better than ever is critical to our economic and social recovery, and to Ballarat’s physical and mental wellbeing,” she said.

That sentiment was echoed by her cross-town colleague, Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle.

“Our sporting associations play a huge role in keeping local sports alive. These grants will help clubs keep their eye on the ball for a return to play, and I know many people are looking forward to that,” she said.