The Geurie Goats rugby union club will be able to conduct full training sessions under lights, after securing funding to upgrade the lights at the clubs home ground.
Member for the Dubbo electorate Dugald Saunders recently visited the ground to announce $6988 from the Local Sports Grants Program has been allocated to the project.
“Being able to train can be hard for winter sports as it gets dark early and if you have no lights, or old worn-out lights, you essentially have no training,” Mr Saunders said.
“For clubs in larger centres this isn’t really an issue, but for those in small towns who love sport, and in this case rugby, it can be a big problem.
“The Geurie Goats committee identified the need for adequate lighting at the sports ground and it is great that we have been able to fund the project, which will hopefully allow them to return to the heights that saw the club win the 2018 Oilsplus Cup.”
Geurie Goats coach Matt Dowell said the funding has been welcomed by the club and the community.
“As a club we’re over the moon to be getting proper lighting at our home ground. It will make it easier for us to firstly attract players to training, and then actually complete full training sessions.” he said.
“If we start earlier in the afternoon to accommodate the natural light it makes it difficult for people to get there because of work. If we start later we run out of light, but once we have the lighting upgraded we can find the perfect time and know we can train properly in order to put a competitive team on the field each week.”