DDCA 2024/25: Inside Fountain Gate’s fight for survival after over 1000 days without home ground

Fountain Gate secretary Justin Smith prefers not to think about what may have lay ahead for his club had its turf ground not reopened this season. Inside the battle for survival.

Justin Smith, Viv Vyas, Marcus Coutts and Turhan Khalil at the reopening of DDCA club Fountain Gate's Max Pawsey Reserve on the weekend. Picture: Supplied.

The key stakeholders at Fountain Gate Cricket Club had no idea what was around the corner.

It was March 6, 2022, and the Gators had played their last match on Max Pawsey Reserve before it underwent renovations.

The next 1070 days would be some of the most gruelling that the club had ever endured, as it was left without a home and in a scrap to save its existence.

“We knew we had ground renovations coming up but didn’t know to what extent or what was ahead for us,” reflected Fountain Gate secretary Justin Smith.

“We were thinking maybe 18 months max, maybe 12 months at best.

“I’ve said to the boys and everyone around the club for the past three years, short-term pain is long-term gain. It did make it hard not knowing how long that short-term pain would be.”

On Saturday, that short-term pain was finally alleviated as the Gators played host to a Turf 3 match for the first time in over 1000 days - and they celebrated by securing an 81-run win over Narre North.

“We didn’t realise the financial effects it would have on us,” Smith said of the prolonged period without a home ground.

“Being off it for three years having no home turf ground meant our first XI played every game away, our seconds were away every game on a Sunday, and that just halted the revenue for the club.

“The flow on effect was that the ones don’t come back after their game. The twos don’t want to comeback to the club before they play on a Sunday, and no one wants to come and support synthetic cricket.

“A mix of things led to the club revenue being down, bar sales are down, just a multitude of factors, and the club buy-in from the top gets difficult year on year when you have it three years in a row.”

DDCA cricket: Dandenong West v Fountain Gate. Picture: Valeriu Campan

A tipping point had been approaching, and had the ground not reopened before the season ended, a dire outcome lay in wait.

“I just said to everyone that this can’t continue, it’s pretty bad having your twos lose every week,” Smith said.

“We just had a gathering and said if it goes on for longer than this season alone, if we don’t get on it this season, we’re in a lot of trouble and we’re going to lose players, lose sponsors and lose a lot of things.

“If we hadn’t gotten on (the ground) last weekend I don’t know what those conversations would’ve looked like.”

Fortunately for Fountain Gate it did come out the other side, and the club’s first home match since 2022 was a joyous occasion.

“We had quite the attendance which was pleasing to see the community’s engagement in the actual venue ,” Smith said.

“We also had a past players day which we would’ve had 45 people turn up throughout the afternoon. We had a function that night as well which flowed on into a very long night indeed.

“The day itself was fantastic, the wicket played very well, much better than we thought, we couldn’t be happier and absolute credit to the curator Glenn Keatley for doing the work he has.”

Despite all the challenges, Fountain Gate has remained competitive in Turf 3 and are well in the mix for promotion this season, sitting atop the ladder with two more rounds to play.

“We just have to play some good cricket and let the cricket gods help us but we’re in for the best chance we’ve had in a number of years now,” Smith said.

“We’ve made two Turf 3 semi finals in the past three years. That’s a credit to everyone in our club to still be competitive in the top flight despite not having a familiar home ground.”