Built to last, Shearers have big plans
A GLOBAL crisis could prove the making of one of Gold Coast’s most humble clubs, toilets and all.
Ormeau Shearers have spent recent seasons in Rugby League Gold Coast competitions striving to match bigger and more powerful rivals.
Yet as the footy stopped and penny-pinching started amid the coronavirus lockdown,
Ormeau ploughed on with their dreams of a new clubhouse at Brien Harris Oval.
A $700,000 build – made up of a government grant, aid from Division 1 councillor Donna Gates, the Bendigo Bank and $80,000 of Ormeau’s own cash – will essentially deliver a whole new club.
Gone will be the “canteen and a couple of old dressing rooms”, replaced within five weeks (due late May) with a game-changing building.
“We’ll have a proper clubhouse that will make us feel like a real club,” president John Coulter said. “It’s great news for our club and our 600 members are very excited about it.
“We have been saving a while for this. We’re still not sure what’s happening with insurances but buildings are still getting built.
“We’ve never had toilets so we’ll have toilets and a nice big meeting room and dressing rooms.
“We’ve got some old players who want to come back and run out of the new rooms.”
It’s not all good news, though. With the pandemic has come uncertainty over numbers in the junior ranks.
“A lot of the parents are scared to send their kids back,” Coulter said.
“If and when we get back under way it may not look exactly like it did before.
“It’s hard to know how many players will come back.”