Panthers welcome new netball pavilion

KILCUNDA-Bass Football Netball Club’s new netball pavilion is expected to be completed in April.

The club is hoping the completion of the pavilion will coincide with the beginning of the 2026 season.

Construction of the multi-million-dollar project got underway four weeks ago.

The pavilion will include female change-room facilities which is set to benefit the club’s netballers and women’s cricketers, with hopes it will be used by women’s footballers down the track.

To make way for the new pavilion, the old Scout Hall was demolished.

Whilst the club is looking forward to seeing a more modern and inclusive facility, its members grieved the loss of part of its history.

“Especially for the older members of our club, it was quite sad. There were a lot of memories there,” club president Shea Eden said.

“There were stories about club functions and birthdays being held there, as well as the stories about the Cubs and Scouts, who mainly used it back in the day. It certainly served its purpose.”

The new pavilion was funded by the Federal Government and Bass Coast Shire Council.

Eden said the club is grateful for the funding – without which this project wouldn’t be possible – and the support shown by council.

“This project happened for us very quickly, thanks to council,” he said.

“The new pavilion will complement the whole ground. We’ve been fortunate to have our courts redone and we have a new canteen on the netball side. Council helped us out with our commercial kitchen there. We are fortunate to have the social rooms that we do, so all our facilities are becoming something we can be proud of.”

Eden said the netballers are excited to see the new pavilion coming to fruition.

“To say that the facilities in the old Scout Hall were a bit ordinary was probably an understatement. We were very fortunate to have Les Watson – one of our life members – and his helpers renovate part of it a couple of years ago. The facilities got a bit of a lift due to that, but in general, it was a haven for a few native animals,” he said.

“Everyone is excited and our netball is really evolving. There are strong numbers in the juniors, and our senior netball is going to be boosted this year with Erin Bell coming on as our development coordinator, so we’re really looking forward to that.

“We are starting to think premierships might be possible in the coming years, which is pretty exciting. We’d love to see it happen.”

Netball trials were recently held at the club, and preseason will not be impacted by ongoing construction.

As a whole, the Kilcunda-Bass Football Netball Club is looking healthy and is ready to jump right into the next season.

“We are pushing to get our U18s back up this year. We haven’t had an U18s side for two years, which has had a huge impact on the club,” Eden said.

“We’ve had good numbers through the Seniors and U16s down to our U10s. We’re looking forward to the next season – we can’t get to it quick enough.”