City of Greater Shepparton Mayor Shane Sali was on hand at Wanganui Oval, adjacent to the McEwen Reserve soccer pitches and tennis pavilion, flanked by representatives from AFL Victoria and AFL Goulburn Murray among others.
Sali announced a $432,000 redevelopment of the Wanganui land, featuring irrigation upgrades and some eventual evening-friendly light installations.
The AFL is contributing $200,000 towards the total fund, with council footing the remaining majority of the bill.
On hand to assist with the announcement was AFL Goulburn Murray region manager Shaun Connell, who outlined that the purpose of these works was to offer Shepparton United and Shepparton opportunities to outsource some of their activities from Deakin Reserve where necessary.
“It’s a real pleasure for us to be part of this project and it falls in line with our strategic facility plan,” Connell said.
“Part of our strategy is to continue to partner with local governments like Greater Shepparton to make facilities available.
“It was identified as a destination venue which we were able to use for both clubs, for juniors and seniors, as an overflow venue for training and junior match days if we need to.
“It’s exciting that we can put this open space to good use and this open space will certainly take the pressure off an overused Deakin Reserve.”
Both clubs set to benefit from the move, the Bears and Demons, brought personnel along to gladly endorse the news.
Shepparton president Brendan Bicknell touched on the challenges of staying afloat as a rural club year-to-year, thanking the AFL and council for their pledged support to get new facilities up and running.
AFL Victoria was represented at the complex by Venue and Government partnerships manager Jessie Doull, who hailed the success of the governing body’s ongoing Breaking New Ground program.
That wasn’t all, either, with Doull pointing towards future infrastructure plans at another Shepparton venue which has been in need for two years.
“The Breaking Ground program sets out to work with schools in other innovative locations as we look for different ways to provide facilities for our grassroots footy,” Doull said.
“That means more grounds with lights and increasing gender-neutral change rooms for players and umpires.
“We’re really excited about the opportunity that this provides Shepparton and United, and we’d love to continue to work with council on these types of projects.
“We have had a look at places like Princess Park, with rebuilding those facilities after they suffered the floods.”
No definite timeframe on commencement or expected completion of the works was given at the time of the announcement, but Sali earmarked the project to get started in early 2025.
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