Playing the first five games of the Central West AFL season on the road isn’t easy for any club, let alone one finding its feet at a new home ground, but the odyssey to make onto the field at Waratahs Sportsground for premiership points is finally over for the Orange Tigers.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
From spending pre-season training sessions picking up rocks on the paddock that is now the southern end of the oval to installing the shipping container that will be the canteen, all the club’s hard work will pay off this weekend.
Tigers president Ben Cullis is excited to see both seniors sides take to the field after the first home game in round three was postponed due to surface issues.
“We’ve had nearly six months work in progress to come to our first home game, it’s been a bit disappointing to have our first home game postponed but it’s even brought the anticipation on a bit more coming into the home game,” he said.
“We want to turn this ground into a fortress and defend our patch.”
He said it would also be good for the club’s profile to be playing in Orange.
“I think it’ll be good for outside as well, people who have seen the goalposts and seen us training but don’t know a lot about it will see us playing and create a bit of buzz and a bit of interest as well,” he said.
“A lot of volunteers have put in a lot of work and it goes to show the progress of the club and you know, many hands make light work and a lot of people put in the effort.”
Mark Gibson is one volunteer who has gone above and beyond for the club in getting the brand new canteen ready to be plonked on the side of the oval.
A 40-foot shipping container has been fitted out with a kitchen, an office and a store room for the club to use on game day, with plans for a verandah-style roof to be in place by season’s end.
Gibson has four children – Dom, Elizabeth, James and Claire – playing across all four junior sides for the Tigers, and said a “fair few” hours – a good month – had gone into the canteen.
“I just went to the club and said we need a canteen and asked if they’d be open to using a shipping container, we went to Waratahs and they approved it and we’ve come up with a concept and were lucky enough to get a lot of it donated,” Gibson explained.
The kitchen equipment was donated by Sushi King, with the trade work being done by Orange Electrical, Orange Regional Plumbing, Kent’s Prestige Painting and Decorating and several more, along with a number of club members like Kieran Brown and Andrew Nelson.
As for the menu?
It’s not officially decided yet, but in a nod to the Central Western Daily’s weekly canteen reviews on Monday mornings – that also have a little bit of sports discussion as well – there will be proper steak sandwiches, sausage sangas and possibly bacon and egg rolls, with Nelson’s famous Kranskys also rumoured to make an appearance during season 2018.
Safe to say the best way to find the menu will be by turning up to Waratah’s Sportsground on Saturday, where the women’s game kicks off from 12.45 and the men’s from 2.30.
Max Stainkamph
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
Max joined the CWD in September 2017, leaving the big smoke of Melbourne to come to Orange, where he stayed until 2020.
