North Adelaide Football Club and Prospect Cricket Club come together to honour champions and raise funds
WHITE pickets will be erected around the boundary of a northern suburbs oval, each bearing the name of a past football or cricket champion – and you can buy them.
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PROSPECT Oval’s boundary fence will become more than just steel and timber following the launch of a community project this week, which honours the district’s sporting successes and raises funds for the suburb’s two biggest clubs.
White pickets will be erected around the boundary of the hallowed turf at Menzies Cres, the home ground shared by the clubs, with each one bearing the name of a past football or cricket champion.
North Adelaide Football Club and Prospect Cricket Club have partnered to complete the project with the hope it will deliver much-needed funds for upgrades and junior development programs.
Most pickets – there will be 3000 in total – will be sold for $200 each and also bear the name of the person that buys it.
However, those named in honour of footy legends such as Barrie Robran West Indian cricket great Sir Garfield Sobers, who played with Prospect during the summer of 1961/62, would likely be auctioned.
North Adelaide Football Club chief executive Greg Edwards started the project after watching an SANFL game at The Parade – Norwood started a similar project with pickets – earlier in the season.
Edwards said the project had a personal touch as his sons Shane, now playing with AFL side Richmond, Kym, and his father Douglas, who played eight games for the Roosters in 1957, would also be honoured.
“From a family point of view, it’ll be nice to watch it develop,” Edwards said.
“As players debut at SANFL level, they’ll also get their name on a picket to go along with the 1300 league footballers we’ve produced.
“We are hoping to also include the names of players that play women’s footy for us.
“Raising money in the current climate is tough so we thought this was a different way to do it.”
Prospect Cricket Club president Tom Hastwell said it was great the two clubs could come together to commemorate their shared histories.
He said the funds raised would be crucial to his club’s junior development as well as starting upgrades to the cricket clubrooms at the northern end of the ground.
“The picket project builds on the 100-year history we’ve had at the ground,” Hastwell said.
“It’s vital for the development of the precinct, I think, and although we’ve been good a fundraising in the past, this opportunity comes along rarely.”
For more information on buying a picket, contact North Adelaide Football Club on 8344 8733.