Rupanyup is a 150-year-old town in the north-west Victorian wheat belt, home to modern silo art and lentil/chickpea growers, plus the usual pub-bank-takeaway-supermarket-post office cluster to service a population of just over 500.
The community’s sports - and, by extension, social - hub is a recreation reserve comprising a football ground and a tennis club that doubles as a netball centre, where there is one non-complaint netball court and separate tennis courts.
That's about to change.
The development is both belated, being long overdue, and ahead of schedule in a sense, considering how long the funding would have taken to secure in so-called 'normal' times. That is, if it was ever received at all.
But the coronavirus pandemic has prompted the funnelling of $68 million into the Victorian Government’s Community Sports Infrastructure Stimulus Program, and the geographically vast Yarriambiack Shire is among the recipients of the latest round of support.
Just under $3 million, to fund three projects, with a council contribution on top. The biggest is Rupanyup’s: two compliant netball/tennis courts, change facilities and lighting to netball competition standard. Stimulus grant: $1.25 million.
“Yarriambiack doesn’t have a huge budget to spend on its recreational facilities, so to be awarded this stimulus grant gives them an opportunity to complete three projects that probably would have taken 10 years or longer,’’ says Bendigo-based Pam Ferrari, the Northern Region Manager for Netball Victoria.
“The clubs would have needed to fundraise and contribute a high percentage of that money, and the shire would have been lucky to have done one every couple of years because of funding and staffing [limitations].
"But now they’ll be able to complete three projects which will give three small towns a huge boost as far as their facilities go. It will also benefit the economy, having people coming to town to work.’’
The importance can not be underestimated, especially in challenging circumstances like these. Not only do so many small towns have a big sense of community, there is often a football-netball (sometimes tennis) club at their heart.
“It’s their second home. It’s their family,’’ says Nancy Da Silva, Netball Victoria’s Facilities Development Manager. “It’s what we’re missing at the moment with not being able to participate, obviously.’’
Which doesn’t mean that progress can not be made in the meantime, and the shire’s three big sporting projects will start and/or finish in the coming months.
Other than Rupanyup, nearby Beulah will have netball change-rooms for the first time, constructed off-site and delivered within months. Stimulus grant: $675,000.
Brim’s outdated and inadequate precinct will be reconfigured to include two netball and three tennis courts. With lighting. Stimulus grant: $775,000.
“Really great outcomes,’’ says Ferrari, whose region extends north to Mildura, south to Gisborne, includes bigger centres such as Shepparton, Seymour and Wodonga, smaller ones like Ouyen and Beechworth.
It includes 34 netball Associations and 19 football netball Leagues plus, lately, many frustrated and disappointed netballers, young and old.
COVID-19 has taken a huge toll - in the north of Victoria, as everywhere.
“Football-netball clubs are the heart of a lot of regional and rural towns,’’ says Ferrari. “They have a meal and a get-together to name the teams on Thursday night after training, and then Saturday games.
“And they support their local businesses. So not only are the community hurting that they can’t get together, but some of those local businesses are really imperilled.’’
The challenges extend to farming families trying to home-school at the same time they need to plant or harvest, while denied, at the end of it all, the holiday they will no longer have.
“I know it's difficult for town-based people, too, but it’s really difficult for those people who are isolated on a lot of rural properties,’’ says Ferrari. “And in some cases the internet isn’t great, so they not only have a struggle with isolation but a struggle with technology, as well.’’
Harrow, a hamlet 90km past Horsham, is another example of the central role sport can play in regional life. A $1 million state government grant received several years ago was invested in a facility designed for whole-of-community use, after much planning and debate among the footy, netball and tennis clubs.
Initially, ambitions were modest. As Ferrari recalls, “Tennis kept saying to us in meetings 'we just want a toilet that we can use, because we don’t have one. And I kept saying to them ‘you need more than that. No. You can’t just settle for a toilet!’’
They got in the end, a whole lot more. Two state-of-the-art buildings - including change-rooms, a viewing verandah and meeting space - finished around last Christmas, but yet to be officially opened, the promised champagne still on ice.
Just as netball around the state is back on hold, its limited mid-year return tantalisingly brief. In Bendigo, for example, the historic Golden City Netball Association managed a brief comeback at junior level between lockdowns, with mums sitting on camp chairs beyond the fence to keep up their social distancing and a coffee van nearby.
“They did an enormous amount of work to get the comp up and running for those kids,’’ says Ferrari.
“They followed all the COVID protocols, did a lot of their education for their coaches and Clubs online, and the very first Saturday that they played was in absolutely torrential rain because the kids just wanted to play.
"It was just great to see the smile on all these kids’ faces because they were actually out there playing netball.’’
Within four weeks, it was all shut down again, compounding the sense of disappointment. Next came the probable suspension of the association’s twilight competition, which usually starts in October.
There is a future, though. Just not exactly the kind anyone saw coming.
“Everybody is taking the view that we will get back to it but, that said, it may not look the same. Our new normal may be a little different than it has been. We may still need to have some of these COVID protocols in place going forward,’’ says Ferrari.
“Especially in smaller towns where your weekends are taken up with football and netball, they will certainly be keen to get back. And for our juniors it’s really important for them to be connected after this period.’’
As Da Silva says, “We know the value of netball in these communities goes far beyond the physical, we can’t wait to get that participation back up and running. It has never been so important in regional Victoria than at the moment.’’
Indeed.
Written by Linda Pearce
Image thanks to the Bendigo Advertiser
