The Building of the Roo's Club

In 2015, following discussions on future directions for the Victor Harbor Football Club, including the prospect of increasing numbers of players joining the Club and with the advent of female football teams being introduced into the Great Southern Football Competition, a decision was taken by the Committee to investigate the possibility of building new clubrooms immediately adjacent to the existing building which was no longer suitable for present or future needs.
Extensive investigations had determined that it would be more cost beneficial to build new premises than undertaking significant and costly building and restoration work on the existing clubrooms.

Coincidentally, the Victor Harbor sub-branch of the RSL were seeking new premises having been served notice by their landlord that their existing tenancy agreement would not be renewed as those premises were required for other purposes.
Following discussions between the RSL and Football Clubs, an invitation was extended to the RSL to enter into a joint agreement with the football club to build a joint facility at Victor Harbor Oval adjacent to the old clubrooms. The RSL were happy to accept the offer.

Joint talks were then held with the City of Victor Harbor as owners of the oval land and tentative approval was received to proceed with the proposal subject to several conditions, including finance for the project, being obtained. – This was subsequently done, and Development Approval was granted for a 1200m2 two storey brick veneer building to be constructed adjacent to the existing clubrooms.

A newly formed RSL and Football Club Management Board appointed Mr Grant Retallick, a retired builder and former President of the football club as the Project Manager for the new development and South Coast Constructions were chosen to undertaken building works at the site.

It has been a credit to Grant that the project was completed on time and on budget and his extensive experience in building, project management, financial budgeting and control are all testament to this.
In all, the cost of the project was $1.6 million dollars, however, this figure belies the true costs involved. Here Grant was able to call upon the generous assistance of club sponsors and volunteers who contributed substantial amounts of goods, time and various forms of assistance to bring the building to fruition. More recent estimates of replacement cost of the facility are substantially higher than the original outlay.

The clubrooms have:

  • a 30kw solar system powering the facility
  • licensed capacity for 350 persons in the upstairs (Roos’ Bar) area
  • licensed seated capacity for 200 persons in the dining room
  • licensed capacity for 150 persons in the downstairs changerooms area
  • lease agreement opportunity with the City of Victor Harbor for 42 years
  • It is a community facility overseen by a management board
  • It has been developed for the use and enjoyment of all community bodies and sports and recreation clubs in Victor Harbor
  • State of the art ‘unisex’ changerooms, showers and toilets for visiting and away teams and officials
  • Disabled toilets

Sincere thanks go to the City of Victor Harbor for their ongoing co-operation, advice and assistance throughout the project, and to South Coast Constructions who’s standard of workmanship is a credit to their company. Many sponsors also made major contributions by way of time, product, goods and services provided and these too are greatly appreciated. Also, many individuals gave freely of their time and energy to undertake a variety of tasks that resulted in substantial cost and time savings. The RSL and Football Clubs are deeply grateful for this.

None of this could have been achieved without the substantial financial support of the Federal and State Governments and the City of Victor Harbor. – These bodies shared the vision for a community facility that would be capable of promoting the needs of sport and recreation and be a community hub for the present and the future, also providing a home for the veteran community to meet and enjoy camaraderie, friendship and mateship. This is being achieved in spades.
Relations with the adjoining Victor harbor High School remain high and the Management Board look forward to the school making use of the new facilities soon.

A meeting with representatives from the Netball Club, Tennis Club, Cricket Club and High School and Council will be hosted in July to discuss matters of common interest at Victor Harbor Oval and to plan for future development opportunities.
Grant Retallick will oversee Project Management of the restoration and redevelopment of the adjoining old clubrooms building due to commence 1 July 2019. This will substantially increase opportunities for expansion and development.
An $800,000 access road upgrade and car park will be commenced this year together with the incorporation of a new public toilet block in the grandstand redevelopment.

TAFE will commence Certificate III courses in Horticulture and Turf Management, and toward Certificate II or III in Cooking and Hospitality at the oval and clubrooms in July and this will substantially increase opportunities for vocational education and training and economic development in Victor Harbor.