It has been a tricky season for the soccer players at Vic Park Football Club. With a bone dry summer followed by an unusually wet winter, pitches rapidly went from hard as concrete to water-logged - often forcing the club's teams to train and play games elsewhere.
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However, with the recent confirmation of a state-funded loan to help upgrade Ballarat's sporting facilities, there is now a solution in sight.
A $10 million sporting infrastructure loan, promised almost a year ago, was finally confirmed in detail earlier this month.
For coach Sarah Fordham, whose players have suffered on the treacherous Vic Park pitches, the loan comes through at a good time: Victoria Park will be one of the major projects that can now be fast-tracked as a result it coming through.
Work will now be scheduled for the installation of two new irrigated soccer pitches, female-friendly change-rooms and new LED lighting after one more season playing in the less-than-ideal Victoria Park conditions. The project should be finished by 2021.
"It will make a big difference," Ms Fordham told The Courier.
"People are starting to get really excited at the prospect. It's coming a lot sooner than everyone was thinking. We thought players might leave, and we're now hoping we'll be able to recruit and retain players involved in the club."
People are starting to get really excited at the prospect. It's coming a lot sooner than everyone was thinking. We thought players might leave.
- Sarah Fordham, Vic Park Football Club
She said that the changing rooms would also improve access for female players, with new club facilities enabling the social side of the club to evolve, while the lighting would help players feel safer using the facilities particularly at night time.
The upgrade at Victoria Park, which will also help the Ballaarat Dog Obedience Club and Lucas Cricket Club, is one of seven projects - involving clubs from Buninyong to Redan - that can now be fast-tracked in the next two years. Many of them focus on providing female-friendly facilities.
The funds did not come quickly. Councillors originally voted to apply for the low interest state loan more than a year ago. The City of Ballarat's director of business services Glenn Kallio told The Courier last month that the council might have to seek alternative loans if the funding was not secured soon.
Mr Kallio said he was unaware why the delay had occurred, but was pushing for the funds to be available so the council could honour its commitments to local sports clubs. In May, Martin Pakula, the sports minister, had said the loans were in their final stages.
The issue was discussed at an ordinary council meeting at the end of July. While council did seek expressions of interest from different banks, the state confirmed the loan scheme details - at a suitably favourable rate - shortly afterwards.
"Each of these projects are on our 10-year rolling program anyway," said Mark Patterson, the City of Ballarat's executive manager of sport and active living.
"This has given us the ability to bring them forward."
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