The lighting at Robert’s Park has been dismal for years.
It affects Rugby Union, Cricket and Touch FootbalI.
It was also one of the first projects to receive funding in the early stages of forced amalgamation.
Some funding had arrived from Southern Phone in the form of a grant in 2016, some 5 years ago.
Further to this close to $250,000 was allocated through the Stronger Communities Fund.
However the project has been left on the back burner with the buck passed from Council to electricity providers to consultants and back again as the lights which are sitting in the Council depot stay idle and prevent the sports mentioned above from operating effectively.
It has been as clear on the noses on everyone’s face that the current lights needed replacing.
Touch Football games have had to be moved around so that scheduling would allow for daylight hours which turn to dusk.
The Rugby club has defied all odds and managed to train under them and even win premierships.
Maybe the players have been eating their carrots.
If they haven’t they have definitely been listening to ‘Carrots’ and following his lead to ensure highly competitive seasons and premierships.
There are currently only two light poles at Robert’s Park.
One tower, the one on the norther end up until the end of the season had only one light left in working condition.
When the Devils went full length of the field in a training run they had the opportunity to pull up short or risk running into the ‘mulga’ and possible injury as the lighting was so dim.
Ben Lenehan took over the role as Harden Red Devils President in late 2018.
He said “When I became president in 2018 I was made aware of the lights, since then I haven’t heard a word about it.”
“The lights only cover half of the main field so not only could we not have any evening events, it was also hard to train as a club with both the men’s and women’s teams at once.”
Due to the lighting not being sufficient the Devils have not considered hosting any evening events at Robert’s Park.
They played a night game at McLean Oval earlier this year alongside their cross code colleagues the Harden Hawks and the evening was highly successful, however due to the poor lighting in Murrumburrah they couldn’t return the favour.
When the new lighting is installed at Roberts Park, Ben believes that it will benefit the club.
It will also benefit Touch Footy which has in excess of 25 teams of 14 players competing each year over the summer across 4 and sometimes 5 games.
Ben said, “The numbers for both men and women have been very strong in recent years. It would be great to train together as a club with better lighting.”
The state of the lighting has also pre-vented the Harden Touch Football Association from holding their A Grade Grand Final as a stand alone match over the past few seasons.
But after years since the funding was found and the upgrade was announced, things may be looking better for the lighting at Roberts Park with a motion put forward at a recent council meeting for a report to be brought back to Council.
What several Councillors will be hoping for is that the lights will be up and running before they get the report, so that Touch Footy will commence and be able to be played into the darkness before the days get ‘longer’.
In late August, it was decided that Council take note of the status of the Action Plan and that a report should be received on the status and installation of the lighting.
Hopefully this is a step in the right direction for Roberts Park.
There may be light at the end of the tunnel yet.
