Community
28 February, 2025
Stadium floor ready for play
COURT users at the Val Bertrand Stadium will now benefit from the completion of brand new flooring.
After serving the community for 35 years, the flooring on two courts at the Caramut Road stadium has now been replaced.
Last Thursday afternoon’s unveiling of the completed renovation was welcome news to players and sports groups across the district.
Warrnambool mayor Cr Ben Blain said he was absolutely thrilled with the outcome and believed user groups and individuals would appreciate the new surface.
“This is a great facility and one that is well utilised throughout the year,” Cr Blain said.
“This new flooring looks amazing and no doubt will be well received by all those who utilise this facility.”
The new flooring includes underfloor rubber mats, which in combination with the new timber floor, will create a sprung playing surface which meets contemporary expectations for indoor stadium playing standards.
Works were scheduled over summer, when usage is at its lowest, and the final lines were marked last Thursday morning.
The Val Bertrand Stadium regularly hosts netball, volleyball, bowls, basketball and pickleball and is part of the Warrnambool ARC Stadium complete.
The new flooring has been welcomed by players in the Warrnambool City Netball Association competition.
Organiser Marg Morgan said players and officials were absolutely thrilled with the new surface and after spending recent months playing outdoors while works were undertaken, were excited to return indoors.
“This is a great facility and very well utilised by many sporting groups, including our netball association,” Marg said.
“We lost a few teams over the summer comp when play moved outdoors so I’m confident these will all return and we will attract even more.
“We’re also hoping to start a boys’ competition because there’s a terrific netball pathway for boys now and so many are interested in the game.
“This new competition could possibly be held on a Monday after school if there’s enough interest so we’ll put the feelers out there.”
The five court facility attracts over 141,000 visits per year.
The first major event on the new floor will be the Seaside Volleyball tournament over the Labour Day weekend.
As part of the works, council was able to donate two light truckloads of timber to the Warrnambool Men’s Shed.
The donated timber was a combination of offcuts from the oak floorboards, as well as packaging timber.
