‘We could’ve had more’: Junior basketball tournament highlights stadium inadequacy

By Jay Bryce

Dec 7, 2023

The grey line: While the tournament was a success, it’s being held back from reaching its potential by the facilities. Photo by Megan Fisher

The Greater Shepparton Junior Basketball Tournament has been and gone, having brought thousands of families and kids to the region.

Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content

Greater Shepparton Basketball Association president Peter Sutherland said he had been humbled by the feedback from players and parents and thanked court marshals, referees, volunteers and organisers for a great tournament.

The annual tournament, which occurred on Saturday, December 2 and Sunday, December 3, once again proved to be one of the best weekends for the local economy and businesses.

From accommodation to hospitality to retail, Mr Sutherland said it would’ve brought in at least $3.5 million for Greater Shepparton.

While it went off without a hitch, it’s been a stressful few weeks for Mr Sutherland and the GSBA.

He was worried about what rainfall and weather forecasts would mean for the tournament and the Shepparton Sports Stadium with its leaky roof.

Water on the court can lead to safety issues or make the venue unusable.

Given that the stadium was used for finals and division one games, it would’ve meant a significant reshuffle of fixtures.

The GSBA already had to use more than 20 courts across the region, including in Euroa, Benalla and Cobram.

Simply put, the stadium is so leaky that a few nights of rain close to or during the tournament could’ve ruined the whole thing.

Moreover, while the courts in the wider region came in handy for the tournament, it’s not ideal to ask families to travel to Kyabram for a game at 8pm and then drive back to their accommodation in Shepparton.

Shepparton Gators senior player and junior coach Dylan Hoare said the distance between the courts made travelling between games an arduous task.

“As a coach, I travelled a total of 250km to get to my under-12 games,” he said.

“Going to Kyabram, Numurkah and all around Shepp.

“I don’t know about everyone else, but that’s a huge weekend of driving for five games.”

Wasted opportunity: The tournament is a great local economic boost but could go to another level if we had the facilities to attract more people, teams and players. Photo by Megan Fisher

While the feedback was overwhelmingly positive, Mr Sutherland said everyone he talked to knew Shepparton had a venue and facility problem.

He said beyond that, there was not enough space for families to sit and watch the games with all the different players and teams.

This was a particular problem for older parents and grandparents, who could not find a comfortable place to sit as spectators.

The bleachers at the Shepparton Sports Stadium, with a capacity of just 400 to 500, quickly filled up, leading to the crowd spilling outside with no place to hang out between games.

This is more than just a seating problem.

There are no clubrooms at the facility, meaning the only time coaches can talk to their players and warm them up is right before the games on the courts.

There is little downtime between the scheduled games to ensure everything runs on time.

Overall, the tournament highlighted the inadequacy of the basketball facilities in Shepparton and made many community members wonder what would be possible if we had a facility that was up to standard.

“The phone never stops ringing with teams wanting to play in our tournament; however, we capped it at 206 teams as we simply do not have the courts to seize the ever-advancing growth of basketball,” Mr Sutherland said.

“This junior basketball tournament brings in no less than $3.6 million into the Greater Shepparton economy, and once we get further courts built, that number will skyrocket.”

GSBA competition manager Tony Long echoed Mr Sutherland’s sentiment and said the GSBA made the most of what it had.

“For me, it’s just that we could’ve had more teams,” Mr Long said.

“We’re knocking back people because we don’t have the courts, and we never want to be knocking back people.

“The more teams and players we have here, the more money they’re going to spend in Shepparton, and the better it is for the community.”

Show your support for our campaign by signing our petition at www.change.org/p/upgrade-the-shepparton-sports-stadium

Stand For Our Stadium: The story so far

Or reach out to us and have your say:

Contact details

News journalist Jay Bryce

jay.bryce@mmg.com.au

5820 3195

@jaybrycenews on Instagram