Star Weekly is looking back on its best stories of 2024. This story was originally published in June and Star Weekly has chosen to share it again for readers to enjoy.
The Tullamarine Sporting Club has become nomadic. While it faces an endless wait for the completion of its social rooms, the 57-year-old club has had to battle fear of folding.
Newly-appointed senior cricket coach and sporting club president Peter Laddad said while he didn’t want to put the blame on anybody in particular, delays in work on the council-funded rooms have caused difficulties for the club on and off the pitch.
In August, 2021, Hume council announced a $1.4 million investment to upgrade Leo Dineen Reserve. A promised pavilion included accessible change rooms and public amenities, as well a new social room, canteen, bar, and an external covered viewing area.
The upgrades were originally due to be completed in mid-2022, but as of June, 2024, works are at a standstill.
After the old rooms were demolished and new ones began to be built, the builder entered voluntary administration, halting the works.
The club played its football matches at Jacana Reserve last year, and will potentially be there again to start this year’s cricket season in September, a move that Mr Laddad said is dangerous for the club’s present and future standing.
“Cricket really struggled because our members just wouldn’t come (to Jacana), and we had no one cooking meals,” he said.
“We lose a lot of our income weekly because of canteen food and money going behind the bar being lost as a result.”
He said a temporary setup has been put in place at Leo Dineen Reserve to see out the football season for the Tullamarine Demons, but the lack of amenities and a proper kitchen has still resulting in the club losing out.
“We can’t cook proper meals, we’re having to try and do a barbecue every night and it’s been hard,” he said.
“Being away from home, we’ve lost our identity, we’ve lost everything.
“We don’t have the money for player payments, we’ll just be rebuilding our club.”
Hume council echoed the community’s frustration due to the delayed completion of the Leo Dineen Reserve upgrade.
“The cost-of-living crisis is creating challenges for everyone in our community, and the issues experienced by the contractor leading to them needing to pull out of the project were beyond council’s control,” a council spokesperson said.
“In spite of this, we have been working to support the clubs impositioned by not having a home ground, including additional investment following the contractor going into administration, fee waiving to mitigate financial challenges, erecting portable facilities and offering temporary relocation to similar local facilities.”
Council said the procurement for a new builder has been completed with more details to be made available later this month.
