Darley forced to play out of temporary facilities for rest of season

Darley has revealed the financial cost to them as further delays impact the opening of their new pavilion at Darley Park. Find out what the latest setback is.

Darley has revealed the setbacks with upgrading Darley Park has cost it more than six figures and it is just about to get worse.

The club says it won’t be able to access the pavilion for the rest of the season despite recent upgrades to Darley Park being finished.

It’s the latest setback in a troubled few months for the venue.

The $4.1m project, funded by Darley, the state government and Moorabool Council was meant to be finished before Darley’s match against Melton on June 3 after work started in 2022.

The team played in temporary facilities last year and were forced to do it again against Redan on June 24.

Now, the team will be forced to do it again for the rest of the season.

The new Darley Park. Picture: Moorabool Shire Council

An issue with the water pressure at the new pavilion has yet to be solved, which has forced the building completion to not be signed off.

The club is now scrambling to make sure facilities are suitable for both their team and visitors for the rest of the season.

The away team are currently playing in the Pigeon Shed with Darley in temporary facilities, which will hopefully become more permanent soon.

“In conjunction with council, we are getting those temporary facilities more permanent,” Darley president Mark Shelly said.

“We had marquee tents set up where we allowed our own team to use those (last round).

“Now we are getting some more semipermanent portables set up on site to be able to keep running our home games from Darley.”

The latest setback has added frustration to the club.

Darley’s Billy Myers (right) celebrates kicking a goal this season. Picture: Andy Brownbill

Shelley revealed the club has lost plenty of money along the way, whether it is through the club having to move events to other venues, losing gate takings or having no form of bar open after the game.

“The impact financially has been significant,” he said.

“The biggest impact we’re starting to see is we are having to compromise some of our sponsors as they are not getting the coverage and exposure they’re dollars should get.

“It’s hard to put a figure on it, but I would certainly think across the three entities it would certainly be greater than six figure without a doubt.

“We’re just waiting and waiting to be able to get into this venue and getting some much needed money.”

There is still no official time frame given to when the club will be back, it’s just hopeful to get there by the start of next season.

Shelley said the impact would have further impacts on not only the Ballarat league but the upcoming cricket season.

“It also impacts our cricket club for their season,” he said.

“Our tenure effectively ends at the end of September and then the cricket takes over from October to March.

“It’s not just the two football clubs impacted this season it is the cricket club.

“They also missed all of last season without permanent changeroom or social facilities.

“We were also earmarked to be a finals venue this year through the (Ballarat) league.

“Over the years we have always been a finals venue because our grounds can be secured fairly easily to get gate takings.

“We weren’t a finals venue last year because of temporary facilities.”

If the facilities remain that way, the club will miss out on games being played at Darley Park.

Darley’s Shane Page and his teammates have played most of the season away from home. Picture: Andy Brownbill

This masthead contacted Moorabool Council to find out why the delay to the ground being finished took so long and what was being done to help the clubs.

The council said it was working hard with Greater Western Water to solve the water pressure issue.

“Council is working with Greater Western Water to resolve unforeseen water pressure issues affecting the Darley Park Community and Sports Centre so we can open the doors to user groups and the community as soon as possible,” Moorabool Council acting CEO Caroline Buisson said.

“We have a responsibility to ensure the building is compliant and all users are safe and secure, and having a reliable and adequate water supply to the site for fire services to access is mandatory.

“Greater Western Water teams have been onsite to conduct testing on the water pressure issue and GWW is keeping Council informed as investigations continue.”

The council defended why it took so long to get the project completed.

“Each construction project is unique and, while Council does all it can to meet expected timelines, sometimes delays do occur,” Bruisson said.

“Often these are a result of external factors such as material or labour unavailability and/or the impact of adverse weather, and cannot be foreseen.”

The council added no compensation would be provided to Darley but said support would be given to the club with whatever they needed to host future events and add temporary facilities in the short term.

Greater Western Water general manager Kessia Thomson said the company was working hard to find a solution to the issue.

“Our engineering and field teams are working to identify the cause of the problem,” she said.

“Our priority is to find a solution as soon as possible to ensure the required water pressure is delivered to the Centre.

“We’ll provide an update as soon as we have more information.”

Darley plays Sebastopol this Saturday at home.