TURF is being laid in a major oval overhaul for one of Australia's premier football schools.
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The roll-out on St Patrick's College Main Oval started on Wednesday, a long-awaited green sign the feature ground was finally starting to shape up.
It is the first major work on the oval in more than 70 years.
Dimensions, akin to the MCG playing surface, remain the same despite an adjustment in alignment to allow for the college's other building works.
The redevelopment project also aims to improve drainage in the elite playing surface and create car parking spaces about the ground.
In a key, highly-anticipated update, Main Oval will be encircled by a white picket fence and Old Collegians have the option to stake their place in history with their name engraved on a picket.
St Pat's has sold more than 250 pickets to date.
Main Oval, on the Eyre Street side of the campus, has been a special ground for cricketers, rugby players and thousands of students of other sporting ventures.
It is best known as a home to St Pat's football program which boasts almost 120 Old Boys to have made VFL/AFL lists, starting with Charlie Baker who attended St Pat's from 1893-96 and went on to play with St Kilda.
Modern Old Boys include Richmond premiership player-turned-Saint Dan Butler (class of 2014) and 2021 Melbourne premiership player Tom McDonald (2010).
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A St Patrick College spokesperson said the oval had been a "personal field of dreams" for generations of Paddy's boys in Ballarat and most Old Collegians would have fond memories on the ground.
The white picket project aims to raise $500,000 for the school and picket prices range in value, depending on location.
It has not yet been confirmed when the oval will be back in action.
Main Oval works, which started last year. kicked up a notch in the summer school break. The turf roll-out comes after the sand base was poured a fortnight ago.
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