Centenary celebration in planning
Horsham district residents are planning a centenary celebration for Horsham City Oval’s grandstand.
A committee is forming to plan a celebration to coincide with a home game of Horsham Football Netball Club, honouring the history and memories of the grandstand, which was built in April 1924 and opened in 1925.
Mckenzie Creek resident Neville Mcintyre, who is leading the call to form a committee, said generations of residents and groups formed memories at the grandstand and its broader recreation reserve.
He is campaigning against original City to River plans to demolish the grandstand.
“I hate old buildings being pulled down,” he said.
Horsham Football Club life member Una Faux recalls watching footballing legend Ron Barrassi play at Horsham City Oval.
“Every time the ball came near him, his arms used to go out like an eagle and he used to just fly – and that’s when I started barracking for Melbourne. Then he went to Carlton, so I went for Carlton. Then he went to North Melbourne, but I stayed with Carlton and that was back in the 1950s,” she said.
A chance encounter with wives of Horsham footballers took Mrs Faux on an end-of-season trip to Adelaide before beginning her own association with the club where she was heavily involved, including selling raffle tickets along the boundary line for 33 years.
“To this day, people from the surrounding areas will say hello, how are you and all the rest of it. One chap, this season, was here from Stawell, sitting in the same spot he always did and he said, ‘I have $2 for my raffle ticket’ – and I haven’t sold a raffle ticket for the past 10 years.”
Mrs Faux recalls a cost of four schillings to sit in the grandstand to watch football and she has written to the council, calling to retain the grandstand.
She said she wanted to see the Horsham clubrooms also retained in the City to River redevelopment, which includes extensive works at city oval.
Horsham premiership footballer Kevin Dellar, who also played for Essendon in the VFL and was mayor of the city, said the grandstand was an important piece of Horsham’s history and he called on the council to listen to the community’s passion to save it.
“I think the grandstand is better now than it’s ever been,” he said.
“On the old seats, you’d get splinters in your bum and they had gone that way because of weathering. It’s also been closed off to the wind.
“You’ll never have another one – and it’s made the ground what it is.
“There are too many things that are being walked over and forgotten about because someone had an idea.”
People wanting to join the committee, or assist with a centenary event, can phone Mr Mcintyre on 0428 846 217.