By Romy Stephens
The Lang Lang Football and Netball clubs will host a special heritage game this weekend, in a bid to farewell the place they’ve called home for the past 119 years.
The Tigers take on Yarragon in their final home game for the season at the Lang Lang Showgrounds on Saturday. It will be the last time the clubs play at the historic site before moving to the brand new Lang Lang Community Sports Precinct next year.
Lang Lang Football Club president Chris Brew said, despite leaving so much history behind, the club is looking forward to what’s in store for the future.
“It’s mixed emotions when you’re saying goodbye to a place that you’ve been at for so long,” he said.
“But we’ve been yearning for our own ground that we can love and care for.
“We’re really excited for where we’re headed.”
Specially-designed heritage replica football guernseys will be worn by the senior and reserves football teams, while the netball club has also ordered replica heritage netball bibs to mark the occasion.
The guernseys are a throwback to the purple and yellow jumpers worn by the club during the 1940s and ’50s.
“It’s really exciting to be able to wear a completely different strip,” Brew said.
“Being able to celebrate the heritage game also gives us the opportunity to invite former players and committee members.”
There is plenty of history that will be left behind once the club farewells the Showgrounds. Lang Lang has played at the venue since its first home game on 11 July 1900 against Grantville, which saw the Tigers emerge victorious 6.0 (36) to 1.0 (6).
Lang Lang’s opponents in the early years included Tooradin, Glen Alvie, Grantville, Kooweerup, Cranbourne, Leongatha, and Korumburra, as well as early rival Yannathan.
Since the 1944 inception of the rodeo, the football club has shared the venue with horses, cows and bulls alike, being dubbed the ‘Bull pen’ or ‘Bull pit’ by local players.
The challenges presented by the ongoing maintenance requirements of sharing a ground which hosts an annual Easter rodeo event have proved difficult for the club over the years, particularly when it comes to the safety of players.
But Brew said the Tigers are eager to put these issues behind them and work towards creating a strong sports culture in Lang Lang.
“It’s going to give us an opportunity to promote our club and our brand to recruits, coaches and junior players,” he said.
“We’ve been working really hard over the last 12 months to get our culture and processes right off the field anyway.
“There’s a really diverse community at Lang Lang with the tennis and the soccer also growing rapidly.
“It’s definitely exciting, as the precinct develops, to offer an opportunity for so many different kids.”
But it’s not only the football club that will benefit from the new facilities.
Netball club president Wendy Thom said they’ve had their fair share of venue struggles since the inception of the netball club 50 years ago.
“In terms of playing where we are it’s been a long history in that we’re the only club within our league that has an indoor court,” she said.
“There’s been a lot of contentious times with the league not wanting us to play there.
“There was the prospect of having to build a second court at the showground but we resisted that because we always dreamed about having our own facility.”
For the netballers, Thom said the heritage game will be a time to reflect but also look forward to what’s in store for the future.
“It will be a celebration and recognition of all the hard work of past committee members, who ensured that we could keep playing,” she said.
“At the moment our teams are spread out over a number of different nights and with only one court teams are having to share the courts which isn’t ideal.
“We are looking forward to being able to move out to the new ground and all train together on one night.
“It will really unite both clubs (football and netball) and bring together that community feel which is what we want.”
With developments of the new precinct – on the corner of Caldermeade and Soldiers roads – already well underway, Lang Lang is on track to move into the new facilities early next year.
It is expected to be a pivotal move for a club that has not only struggled to have a quality venue and facilities over a long period of time, but has also been starved of the ultimate success for the longest period of time for any Australian football club – this year marks 83 years since the Tigers’ last premiership success.
The new facilities are expected to be ready by January 2020, in time for the club to conduct its preseason training.
