Kangas keeping their heads above water …

Deloraine Football Club is expanding facilities to cater for their growing women’s teams. Amongst the future Roos players at the March footy clinic are (front to back, as identified): Adarie Bloomfield, Travis Field, Akileah Adams, Charlie Jaehne, Kae-Lani Taylor, Jenna Field (being piggybacked) and Danika Barrett.

Photo by Mike Moores

By Sharon Webb

The floor height of new $161,000 changerooms planned for Deloraine Football Club will be built 600mm above ground level – just in case of flooding.

Meander Valley Council has lodged an application for two demountable changerooms for the Deloraine Football Club as unisex facilities to cater for growing women’s teams.

Club president Don Tracey said the club now has three junior women’s teams and anticipates the establishment of a senior team in the future.

The changerooms will be paid for by $80,000 from the State Government’s Levelling the Playing Fields grant, $40,000 from the Bendigo Bank, $10,000 from AFL Tasmania and the balance from the football club.
Executive member of the junior football committee Rodney Buzzey said current facilities were not suitable for women’s teams.

‘Having multiple teams playing means changeroom cross-over periods get quite busy. These facilities will cater for the number of players we have now.’

The club, on council land at Racecourse Drive, was not able to use its grounds and facilities for months after the 2016 Meander River floods.

Flood damage to football, squash and pony club facilities led to Deloraine sports clubs forming the Meander Valley Regional Recreation Precinct Working Group which aimed to house basketball, netball, football, squash and little athletics at Deloraine’s Alveston Drive Community Complex.

The working group attracted $98,000 from Meander Valley Council, the State Government and Bendigo Bank for a feasibility study which came up with three options in January 2018 for consolidating Deloraine sports facilities.

The councillors’ and working group’s preferred option was to consolidate sporting, recreation and community facilities at the Deloraine Community Complex site, including buying adjoining private land and upgrading the Deloraine Primary School sports ground. The cost was $33m, with phase one, incorporating facilities for football, squash and netball, costed at $13.3m.

But that option was shelved by the council because of its cost. Deloraine junior football president Taneil Bloomfield said Deloraine sport clubs are still fighting for it.

According to MVC Director of Infrastructure, Dino de Paoli, the new changeroom floors will be set at a 20-year flood level which would result in negligible impact on the development.
‘The change rooms will be washable and not formed of materials that require replacement due to inundation with sediment-laden floodwater, for example.’

At a 100-year flood level, the flood depth over the proposed floor level would be 460mm.
‘This is still considered to be of insignificant or minor consequence in terms of building impact, as the change rooms are constructed in a manner that will enable ease of cleaning, and flow velocity is low,’ he wrote.