New home for Lang Lang Tigers
by Nathan Weatherhead
2020 was shaping up to be an exciting one for the Lang Lang Football Club, before coronavirus put a stop to the unveiling of their brand-new ground on Caldermeade Road.
The project, which was pitched in 2014 when the local community bank bought the land.
With the formal plan for the new grounds and rooms announced in 2016, some logistical problems saw construction commence in 2019 with handover to happen before the start of the 2020 season.
“The whole idea for the facility was originally formulated by the local bank wanting to create a facility for the local clubs and community that they could call their own,” Lang Lang Football Club president Chris Brew said.
Lang Lang had been playing at the showgrounds since 1900 and when the rodeo commenced in the 1940s, the ground would be carved up each Easter, making it hard for the club to maintain the turf for the football season.
Now, Lang Lang have the opportunity to move into their own facility, with new change rooms, a social room with a balcony to look over the ground as well as a 360 degree view around the ground where spectators can park and watch the game.
“In the long term, it will be extremely advantageous to have this new and fantastic facility that we have gone without for a long period of time. We want to make sure the new players and all the players that are coming appreciate and respect where we have come from, but also appreciate what we have now, we are all looking forward to it,” Brew said.
Originally, the Tigers were hoping to unveil the ground with a night match, but that has been put on the backburner with the EDFL to officially cancel the 2020 senior season on July 1.
Brew said while club hasn’t seen the success it had hoped for, they are continuing to work on turning that around.
“Our performance has been less than ideal, it’s certainly part of what we want to improve. We have made some changes over the past 12 years and we restructured a few things. We didn’t have a great win loss record last year, but we felt like off the field and on the field we had taken some big steps to point the club in a new direction,” Brew said.
The new facility allows Lang Lang to draw talent in and keep them, which has been a hurdle for them in the past, with players wanting to play on the brand-new ground and utilise the facility to its fullest.
“The stark reality was, we often got those talented players, but keeping them there was the difficulty we had. It helps you to have continuity because players will be there for longer periods of time. It’s really important to have that,” Brew said.
While season 2020 is off and football takes a back seat for now, Lang Lang continue to feel excited about what the future might hold as they begin their new journey at Caldermeade Road.
“It’s going to be a really exciting place to watch and play football when that comes around, it’s going to be really fantastic, it just hasn’t worked out like we wanted this year, but there are bigger things than football as well,” Brew said.