Barwon Heads president Russell Hyland says the club looked at a range of options, including playing at Lara, when sourcing a venue for this weekend’s clash with Geelong Amateur.
The Seagulls, who have been unable to use Howard Harmer Oval since mid-June due to an upgrade of the pavilion, locked in Winter Reserve – the home of GDFNL club Belmont Lions – late last month.
“We were talking with Newcomb in the early stages, which was fantastic, and they were really keen to have us, and we were really keen to go there,” Hyland said.
“But it eventuated that with the rain we had over June and July, the ground became pretty wet, and there are going to be finals there, and council mainly wanted to make sure that the oval was in tip-top shape for the finals by giving it a rest every second week.
“We were also in discussions with St Mary’s about playing on their ground
“We’ve got a great relationship with them, but unfortunately one of the bigger tenants of Kardinia Park (Geelong) had their game scheduled at 3 o’clock, so that ruled that one out.
“We couldn’t look at Sundays because we’ve got a bit of a crossover with netball and female football.
“We spoke to Leopold. They were really good, except they’ve got some (Geelong) Falcons games scheduled there and some women’s games scheduled over the weekend.”
Lara was ruled out due to the distance, while upgrades at Ocean Grove Memorial Reserve ruled out their archrivals’ former home.
Geelong Amateur’s offer of the match being played at KFC Oval, even with Barwon Heads receiving the gate takings and being able to operate the canteen and bar facilities, was rejected.
“It would have been really difficult for us to get volunteers in there to run the bar and the canteen,” Hyland said.
“And the coaching panel put it to me pretty strongly that they weren’t really keen to get Ammos at Ammos twice in the one year, which is understandable; I don’t reckon many clubs would like that one.
“We had a bit of to and fro and back between the great Ammos president (Simon Farrell) and myself, so we’ve finally settled on this.”
Hyland says the Belmont Lions, who are co-coached by Barwon Heads product Andy Walsgott, and feature several ex-Seagulls on their list, have been “more than accommodating”.
“They’ve been fantastic to deal with,” he said.
“They really impressed me when I sat down and had a chat about what we can do and what they can provide.
“The funny thing is that after Belmont play Thomson and they’ve had a beer with the Thomson boys, they might come back to their home rooms and find a few of their old teammates still floating around.”
X: @krockfootball
