whufc wrote:Was speaking to a player who toured the club in recent weeks and was interested to hear his take on the clubrooms/facilities/ground at Centrals, he hadn't been to Elizabeth Oval in over ten years.
Mentioned it felt like it hadn't aged a day since then.....he said the ground/grandstand/fencing etc felt like a glorified country ground and was miles behind places like Norwood, Glenelg, Prospect. Mentioned the changerooms were pretty much the same as what he had seen ten years ago...gym and pool area looking very tired.
He didn't find it overly off putting for what his goals are but said the difference was fairly noticeable when compared to the other clubs and said he could see if you had driven the extra 30 minutes from the city out there you would have been a tad underwhelmed.
Do we know if the club has any planned investment in the facility coming up......i know they have the volunteer group doing a lot of great work but that's more finishing touches like painting, gardening etc. Hoping now that our financial position is a better it might be on the agenda.
Oh dear....
To put things right.
The pool and the gym are indeed 15 years old but are kept in very good condition. Very few Clubs (if any???) have a pool for rehab as part of their Changerooms. These facilities are often seen as a strength of the Club when compared with others.
There is no need for an upgrade of the home changeroom as it is roomy, clean and fit for purpose.
The away changerooms were demolished last season. In its place, behind the grandstand, there has been a facility built with THREE changerooms. This includes the BIGGEST away changeroom in the SANFL, and two other changerooms to cater for carnival days as well as the Womens teams. These have now been finished.
The fence around the playing surface is being replaced with a white picket fence all around the ground. This starts next week.
There are plans for a function centre overlooking the oval with glass frontage. These plans are with the Council at present awaiting approval.
There has been a display of memorabilia set up as a mini-museum inside the Clubrooms.
Maybe its time to renew your (obviously) lapsed membership so that you can keep up to speed with whats happening, and then you might sense the positivity that is around. Meggsy is a go-getter and does a brilliant job in keeping the members informed.
Over a dozen recruits, including several league players from other clubs have toured the facility and all clearly have a more positive viewpoint than the one you have shared, as they have/are inking deals at a rate we havent seen for many a year.