CHANGE ROOMS & HOME GAMES UPDATE
To all Mt. Lofty Members, Players, Officials, Parents and Caregivers.
I would like to take this opportunity to advise you all that unfortunately it was determined by the HFL and SANFL late last week that our home games scheduled for April will be played as away games due to the new change rooms not being completed in time for the start of the 2022 season. This will hopefully see us re-commence football at Mt. Lofty the weekend commencing 6th – 8th of MAY all going well.
The senior committee came up with a ‘final plan’ to be able to accommodate these games at home but unfortunately this was rejected at HFL board level then passed onto SANFL who also rejected the plan. The club does not blame the HFL or the SANFL in making their decision and we respect the call of the umpire.
This plan was put forward as a solution funded solely by the Mt. Lofty FC due to the decision being made by Council that the funding to implement a temporary facility which would have seen these games not played as away games was no longer available. There has been a heap of communication with council over the last 12 months on the necessity of these temporary rooms to be implemented to avoid any games being played elsewhere and the need for a ‘proper’ facility to be set up for trainings etc. With cost over runs on the build of the new facility, the council decided they could no longer fund this and left it to the club to take on the cost ourselves. This cost could be significant due to the open-ended nature of the build contract and the committees decided the club did not want to put ourselves into a situation that could drag on thus ending up costing the club an ‘unknown’ amount of money. We put forward a very basic plan that the club thought we could manage the cost of doing, but unfortunately this has been rejected.
The committee has tried its best to get a temporary solution so it is disappointing to now have to play our games as away games. We have been advised these games will only be swapped. Allowing them to be played in the second half of the year as home games. This decision hopefully will not burden the club too much or the advantage to the teams playing at home.
These decisions are final and there are no other avenues we can go down so we have now decided to concentrate on moving forward and making the best of the situation. I would like to call on you all to support the club in a very basic way which is to get up to the clubrooms when they are open to buy a meal and a drink to help soften the blow to the club’s finances early in the year. We also look forward to seeing all the supporters in the red and white, back at Arkaba Oval to show support when we do get back to use our home ground advantage.
More information will follow on how we intend to open up the club and when. We thank you for your dedication, support and understanding.
On behalf of the
Mt Lofty Districts Football Club
Scott Taylor [President]
0418 804 768
E: president@mtloftydevils.com.au
