Opinion | Frustration over Orange sports stadium timeline grows

Announced in 2019, the project has been plagued by delays and a growing budget blackhole.

Construction on the stadium itself has still not begun, although earthworks have been ongoing for a few months now, as cricketers around town would know as Jack Brabham was out of action towards to end of the season. Estimated costs have also more-than-doubled from $25 million to about $60 million.

A funding boost of $34.5 million was announced in February, but three months on, we are are still yet to see any new designs for the stadium.

All of this is old news, so what is the point of this rant you may ask. Put simply, I am sick and tired of watching other cities in the Central West scoop up professional sporting clubs while we are made to sit and wait for our stadium to finally get built...whenever that day may be.

The latest trend features the A-League Women.

Bathurst Regional Council, during the confidential portion of the May 17 ordinary meeting, accepted a proposal to host a Wanderers A-League Women's fixture at Carrington Park. While no date has been set, the game is expected to be held sometime in 2023.

Although it only appears to be a one-off fixture, Bathurst Council believed this would be the first time an A-League game had been played in a regional centre. History in the making for the Central West, just not for Orange.

While this is small potatoes compared to bringing such codes as the NRL or Big Bash past the Blue Mountains, it is notable for one reason in particular; saturation.

While pro sporting teams seem happier than ever to bring a handful of home games to the regions each season, clubs want to conquer untapped territory, not plunder an already utilised region.

Bathurst and Mudgee both have connections to the NRL, but Dubbo was unable or unwilling to lock up South Sydney for 2023 and beyond. Will clubs get sick of the Central West? Probably not, but they may not want to overpopulate the market and instead, look for other parts of the state to tap into.

Orange did recently host a pair of WNCL games, with a packed house for game number two in particular. While Wade Park is the best cricketing facility in the region, the main reason the NSW Breakers came out to town was surely because of our connection with the next big face of cricket in this country, Phoebe Litchfield.

The same logic could be applied for Giants Netball, whose previous connection to Orange product Annie Miller no doubt swayed their decision in coming to Orange, but also cutting ties with the city once Miller moved north.

All of that is to say that just because we've got these big games in recent years, doesn't mean it's because of the facilities.

Construction of the sport stadium would change that, with the city no longer reliant on its top athletes to be a drawcard, although I'm sure Bloomfield boy Jack Wighton will be singing our praises to the Bunnies next year.

But by the time this stadium gets built, I fear we may have missed the boat on the top teams from the top codes.

Orange City Council has continuously said they are in discussions with clubs to potentially play out here and while I understand why we can't be privy to the finer details of those talks, it is no less frustrating to see cities like Bathurst continue to soar while we have out wings clipped.

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