The same construction companies then left the same club needing to cover unpaid debts for work the club undertook on the companies' behalf, after ignoring the club's invoices.

Brown Hill Cricket Club entered into a sponsorship arrangement with Ballarat's Cavalier Homes (now Goldfields Building Co.) and the recently-collapsed LTR Constructions for the 2020-2023 seasons, a three-year sponsorship deal which would net the club $5000 in its first year and between $3000 and $4000 per year for the following two years.

Both companies are or were directed by Ballarat builder Lachlan Trent Rodgers.

The sponsorship has not been delivered despite the club paying for LTR Constructions and Goldfields Building Co. signage at two grounds, Brown Hill and the Western Oval, and having team shirts emblazoned with the Cavalier Homes logo.

While the sums of money may not appear substantial, to a community sports club attempting to retain players and maintain its clubrooms, gear and ground, the need to pay out extra money is stressful on the club's management, says the Brown Hill CC president Phillip Knowles.

Mr Knowles has been at the helm of the Brown Hill Cricket Club for 28 years, over a third of the club's existence. He admits frustration at the unpaid sponsorship, at his club's players being forced to wear team shirts with a defaulting sponsor on them, and the club having to pay out another $1500 for unpaid cleaning contracts.

"We've got - this year and last year and next year in particular - we've got players who are going to be running around with Cavalier Homes on (their shirts), and they're no longer in existence (under that name)," he says.

"We changed all our one-day and two-day gear to have Cavalier on it. I think all those uniform tops come to about $3000.

"I've still got a couple of his (Mr Rodgers's) signs at the ovals; I haven't pulled them down yet and I need to. There's an LTR sign at the Western Oval and a Goldfields (Building Co.) sign at Brown Hill. We spent nearly $2000 on signs for the ovals, basically the $5000 (sponsorship), half of that would go into expenses, doing the signage. It's probably $2000, $2500, we spent on putting signs up for his business.

Phil Knowles says the club came to an arrangement with LTR Constructions to clean homes after they had been completed by the builder. Mr Knowles's son Ryan worked for the company as a supervisor, and arranged for Brown Hill to undertake the work, as an extra source of income in addition to the sponsorship. The first few invoices for cleaning were paid, Phil Knowles says, but the last two, totalling $1492 for homes in Creswick and Napoleons, were not.

The Courier has sighted the invoices, on Brown Hill Cricket Club letterhead, to LTR Constructions/Goldfields Building Co./Cavalier Homes.

"We were wiping down the walls and benches in the new homes, mopping, sweeping, cleaning windows, getting rid of any rubbish builders would leave lying around... basically a spring clean on every house for the client to walk into," Mr Knowles says.

"Those two last two houses we did, we still haven't been paid for. We'd have three or four blokes help us clean the houses, and by the time the job's finished, the club might only get $350 out of a $700 job. But we've been able to help some uni students earn a little bit of cash by helping us clean the houses. We've paid the guys who've done the work, and we bought the cleaning products. We're out of pocket for that, let alone any profit we may have got.

"Costs never go down, and we're trying to keep costs to a minimum so as many kids can play as possible. If the cost of playing sport nowadays for parents and kids gets too high, they'll just walk."

The club, which has produced numerous country and local champions, is an institution in the Brown Hill area and maintains close links to the suburb. Names like Robert Whitcher, Trevor McCann, Wayne Morgan and Robert Button loom large over Ballarat's cricketing history - all players from Brown Hill. Formed in 1946, it's one of the few community entities still based where it was founded, and is immensely proud of its local connections. In its 75^th year, the club would rather be celebrating than chasing cash, Phil Knowles says.

While the loss of money won't break the club, it is a setback.

"It's not going to ruin us," Mr Knowles says, "but this puts us back a bit on what we believed we were going to have financially for the next three years. We've had to work hard to get some extra sponsors to offset what we thought was going to be a bonus, or (money we'd have on hand) offset any unexpected costs."

Mr Knowles has made several attempts to contact Mr Rodgers, the director of both collapsed company LTR Constructions and Goldfields Building Co., without receiving a response. LTR Constructions went into liquidation in November 2021 owing creditors over $1 million, including unpaid wages and superannuation. Creditors have since lodged caveats on a property in Shortridge Drive, Lucas owned by Mr Rodgers, after he tried to sell the land. LTR is being liquidated by Worrells Solvency and Forensic Accountants.

The Courier was unable to contact Lachlan Rodgers.