Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak tonight about football netball clubs and their importance to local communities, particularly in the regions. This weekend we head towards finals weekend in central Victoria.

I have been a keen netballer—not a particularly great netballer but a keen one—in my time and although I now play in the parliamentary team and no longer for the great Tarwin Sharks C-grade, I have long appreciated the way that football netball clubs provide the glue for many local communities in regional Victoria. Football netball clubs are often the centre of the universe in tight-knit communities where the whole family has the opportunity to contribute in their own way. And finals season is a great time of year to reflect on and celebrate this contribution. I find it amazing that at times the crowds in the stands at the finals games are bigger than the population of the towns themselves. People regularly travel 50 to 100 kilometres just to play in or watch their favourite teams, without complaint and accepting that, for them, this is just a way of life. This is what we do. It is a great day out. Gate takings can be in the tens of thousands of dollars during finals season—a not insignificant amount for these clubs, and it demonstrates the strength of local football and netball in Victoria.

The finals season in central Victoria started with a fantastic win by the Bendigo Thunder. The Thunder are Bendigo's representatives in the North West Conference of the Victorian Women's Football League. After coming close in 2011, their first year in the competition, the girls from the Thunder held it together on a rainy, muddy day in August to defeat La Trobe to win the 2012 premiership by 14 points. I was pleased to see the Bendigo Advertiser throwing their full support behind the team, with coverage throughout the season and a lift-out poster of the premiership team following their win. We are very proud of them representing our region and coming out on top. I am sure they will continue their success next year, as they seem to be going from strength to strength.

Another league with a strong presence in my local area is the Loddon Valley Football League. Based around the north of Bendigo, the two towns that faced off in last weekend's football grand final, Newbridge and Bridgewater, were two towns that suffered serious damage in the floods last January. When the Loddon River burst its banks, the Newbridge Football Netball Club went under—and I mean really under. Their 2000 football premiership flag was found two kilometres down the river, and they could not play at the ground for a long, long time. Neither could the netballers and tennis players, as their courts were destroyed too. Newbridge are still without clubrooms and are operating out of a portable and a tin shed whilst their new home is being built. But, throughout this difficult time for the Newbridge club, the other local clubs have been fantastic in terms of offering grounds on which to train, particularly around preseason. So to be in the grand final in 2012, and not just in the grand final but with the trifecta—seniors, reserves and under 17s—all through to the big game, is quite a feat.

For Bridgewater, 15 kilometres down the road, the premiership game was just as big of a deal. In Bridgewater, the footy oval may not be right up against the picturesque Loddon River, but they have also taken a big hit in recent times, suffering from three floods in five months in 2011. It is testament to the strength of these two communities that their teams made it through. Congratulations to the Mean Machine of Bridgewater for a brilliant performance—beating the Maroons by 65 points to win the 2012 flag, their third in a row. And congratulations to the girls of Mitiamo. If you drive through Mitiamo, blink and you will miss it. So it is fantastic that these girls' A-grade team triumphed over YCW for a surprising win.

This year I was delighted to also be asked to become the netball patron of the Bendigo Football Netball League. The BFNL have a great history and the league looms large over Bendigo. The two teams gearing up for this weekend's football grand final are Gisborne, down in the south just on the outskirts of Melbourne, and Golden Square, the local favourites. They will face off in a battle. Not to forget the netballers, of course—and I would never, as their patron—and I look forward to Eaglehawk and Sandhurst facing off in the A-grade competition with the same clubs' grand finalists in the B-grade as well.

The netballers are at least as important as the footballers and their contribution to our clubs across the country is enormous. There are, in fact, more netballers than football players of all codes combined. They are also the ones who are helping out in the canteens. It will be a great showdown and I look forward to the games.

I also pass along congratulations to the winners of the top two individual honours in the Bendigo Football Netball League: the surprise 2012 Michelsen Medal winner, Scott Walsh from Gisborne Football Netball Club and the winner of the 2012 Betty Thompson Medal, Karly Bingham from Kangaroo Flat.

I am also a sponsor of the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League, and I really enjoyed seeing some of their preliminary finals out at Maryborough a couple of weeks ago. Some of the clubs in this league, like Carisbrook and Avoca, have had a rough time in the past couple of seasons due to flood damage as well. But they have fought hard and turned in a strong performance for 2012. With the league now bedded down after the addition of three new clubs from the Lexington Plains league in 2011, and 14 clubs in total, competition is strong.

The upcoming football grand final this weekend will see Navarre's Grasshoppers playing Carisbrook's Redbacks on Sunday in what should be a fantastic match-up. The Grasshoppers will also feature in the netball A-grade grand final, playing Lexington.

In closing, I wish good luck to all the football and netball clubs I have mentioned and the countless others who will be out there trying their best this weekend across central and regional Victoria. I look forward to again keeping up with the progress and hearing all the local football and netball news for 2013. I hope they play hard, that they do not have any major injuries, that the gate takings are great and that sponsors, spectators and players alike have a great weekend.