Mike Symon (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Being a Thursday afternoon adjournment debate, I am sure, Mr Speaker, you would expect me to report on the opening of yet another new P21 building in one of my local schools. But this Thursday is a little bit different because I am going to talk about the opening of a new soccer club pavilion.

On Saturday, 6 August this year I had the great pleasure of officially opening the brand new Ringwood soccer multi-purpose pavilion with the Mayor of Maroondah, Tony Dib. Back in December 2009, the old Ringwood city soccer stand and facilities were demolished to make way for the construction of a fantastic, modern, multipurpose shared sports pavilion. It is well worth a look—anyone who is listening to this, please take a drive out to Ringwood in Melbourne and see what can be done with local projects.

The old facilities at the ground were built in 1962 and I do not think had ever been touched since. The ground was in a really horrible state; the facilities were worse. There were no facilities for females, no facilities for referees and certainly no access for anyone with any form of disability.

The new $5 million facility provides a home for the Ringwood City Soccer Club, the Ringwood and District Cricket Association and the MVC—Michael Victor Canavan—Boxing Club. Funding of $2.9 million was provided by the federal government under the Regional and Local Community Infrastructure Program, Maroondah City Council put in $1.747 million and the state government contributed $300,000 for the pitch.

Ringwood City Soccer Club has been around for a long time—since 1953, I am told—and is now one of the largest suburban clubs in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. The new ground is probably the best ground in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne—that is no idle boast. The weather does not matter—being an artificial turf pitch it is playable in every season. That is something that the old ground simply was not. The artificial turf came from Italy and is the first of its kind to be installed on a soccer ground in Australia. The field has been tested and, I believe, certified as a FIFA 2-star surface, which means that it can be used for professional-level matches. That is also very good for Ringwood and surrounding suburbs.

The new pavilion and all-weather surface means that both the seniors and the juniors clubs of Ringwood city, and the girls and the boys, can now train together on the same ground instead of on different grounds. That is also a great thing for parents who are involved with the club. The building itself, servicing the three different codes, is divided into separate spaces so they can all be there at once and stay out of each other's way. That is a great thing too.

The boxing club in particular use the facility every night, with 250 people a week, and they train a lot of kids. Those kids learn a lot of things through boxing, especially, the club tells me, discipline and the importance of keeping healthy. Many older people use the boxing club as well, because they like to keep in shape. I know the MVC Boxing Club are ecstatic about their new facility. The club has not had a home for years, and in fact their old home at Bedford Park community centre I described as a concrete dungeon. It had no windows, one door and a very low ceiling. It was eventually condemned and they had to move out and spent several years training in a private garage. They now have a really modern, 21st-century facility. It is light and it overlooks the soccer ground. It is fantastic. The pavilion includes large home and away change rooms, umpires' and medical rooms, a terraced grandstand, a kiosk, a social room, administration offices and, of course, a boxing gymnasium. It also has lighting so that matches can be played at night and—a first for the area—a sealed car park rather than the old mud-and-gravel version that used to be there.

The Ringwood and District Cricket Association will be using the facility as its administrative hub. The association has over 300 teams in total, through all the various levels. It is one of the biggest cricketing associations in suburban Melbourne.

In addition to that, this facility will ensure that soccer grows locally. It means that we now have room for growth, and, rather than parents turning up to see what it is like and then driving away, they turn up and say, 'We want to be here.' I am certain that visiting soccer teams will, when they go back to their home ground, be saying: 'Why don't we have something like this? How do we get one?' It is an absolutely sensational outcome for what has been a sorely needed local project.

I certainly hope that we can continue to do more things like this between the different levels of government. It is a fantastic result for our community.