Footy’s final term

By RUSSELL BENNETT
THE OLDEST football club in the hills could fold if it can’t lock down funds for new facilities in the next two years.
That is the frightening reality facing Emerald Football Club president Paul Reilly, who says he is “embarrassed” by his own clubrooms.
“It is embarrassing,” he said.
“I hate coming down here.
“I love the people, but I hate coming here and I’m the president.”
The clubrooms at Emerald’s senior sports ground, Chandler Reserve, can only seat around 50 people for functions and meals.
Yet Chandler Reserve is home to eight teams and more than 150 players.
Mr Reilly said many of those had to sit outside during official functions at the club, and life member and sponsor nights were awkwardly cramped.
He also said the club was recently losing money from its own home games as fans opted to stay home, out of the wet weather.
Emerald sporting stalwarts, including Bill and Robyn Kuys, have been pushing for more than $500,000 for a second storey on their clubrooms since the early to mid-’90s.
And when former La Trobe MP Jason Wood committed the money prior to the 2007 Federal election, the new rooms finally seemed a reality.
But with the Coalition’s loss came more uncertainty for the Bombers, who just last year won the Yarra Valley Mountain District Football League’s Division Two premiership but feel they may not survive the next few years.
Mr Kuys, now on the league executive, was the Emerald Football Club president from 2003 to 2010. In November last year he joined the Emerald Sporting Club committee – the group charged with finding a way to secure the Chandler Reserve upgrades.
Its plan was for a precinct capable of housing local tennis, basketball and even badminton – in addition to senior football and netball.
“We were going to sell a plaque – (in the shape of ) a big plane – and we were going to put seats on it,” Mr Kuys said.
“There were 130 (foundation member) seats available for $1000 each and our expectation was that people had better get in quick otherwise they’d miss out on getting a seat.
“But with the economy the way it is, with all the uncertainty with the new taxes coming in, people haven’t come forward.
“We’ve only got about nine people that have fully paid up out of 130 that we wanted.”
The Emerald Sporting Club has applied for a $575,000 Cardinia Shire Council grant to help pay for the new facilities, but Mr Kuys said they could cost closer to $700,000.
“Beaconsfield has just been given $2.8 million to put new clubrooms on their ground,” Mr Kuys said.
“If you look at their current social rooms and change-rooms, we’d give our right arm to get them.”
Mr Kuys urged local residents, particularly those with some prior involvement with the senior football, netball or cricket sides, to get back on board now and pledge their support before it was too late.
But the club already brought many of its past members and players back for its 2004 centenary year. It didn’t work – with the senior football squad reduced to just 19 players for the start of 2005.
Mr Kuys acknowledged that could have been the final straw for some.
“You can only burn so much wood before you’re burnt out,” he said.
“A lot of our players retired and a lot of our current group will over the next few years as well.”
Mr Kuys said Emerald’s current facilities could turn away potential recruits, and a number of local junior players were looking elsewhere for senior games.
“If we got the development upstairs, the whole existing room would become a gymnasium and the players would have a proper area to train in,” Mr Kuys said.
The upgrade would include toilet facilities, a kitchen, a small bar, a meeting room, and an entry with disabled access from the Chandler Reserve carpark.
For more information, or to donate to the Chandler Reserve upgrade, call Mr Kuys on 0400 144 469 or Mr Reilly on 0408 343 182.