THE Sunraysia Football and Netball League’s inaugural showpiece event at the new $45 million Mildura Sporting Precinct has been hailed as “sensational” and an “amazing success”.
An estimated crowd of about 6000 people flocked to the precinct to watch a bumper day of junior and senior grand finals on the AFL-standard premier oval and inside the stadium.
There was hardly a spare vantage point for the historic A-grade indoor netball decider, where at least 1000 people watched red-hot favourites Wentworth perform a Houdini act to beat a gallant Ouyen United by one goal.
About 3000 spectators on the main hill alone soaked up a cracking senior football clash, where Irymple prevailed by six points against a spirited Wentworth outfit.
The only hiccup was that the thirsty big crowd drank the bar dry.
Mayor Liam Wood lauded the efforts of MSP bosses Chelsea Pettinau and Kate Henschke for overseeing a grand occasion in more ways than one.
“It was the first major test of the precinct, but the tireless effort of ‘Chels’ and Kate brought it all together incredibly well, and the vibe was just amazing,” Mayor Liam Wood said.
“The community came out in droves to support the day. Hopefully people will start to realise what this precinct is actually about, which is a focus on the community.”
Ms Pettinau said the day went “quite well” from an operational viewpoint.
“I was certainly taking some lovely sighs of relief when we got to that 5 o’clock mark to see the planning did come off,” she said.
She said one of the biggest highlights was the A-grade netball decider, which proved the talk of the precinct.
“It’s the most amount of people we’ve had spectating in that hall to date,” Ms Pettinau said.
“The atmosphere was next level and the girls put on a great show.
“I’m relieved to see the precinct pull off such an amazing event, particularly with such a short lead time from when the SFNL made their decision (to play their grand finals at MSP).”
SFNL president Paul Matheson said it was a “big community celebration of the return of grand-final football”.
“It was a sensational day and the weather came through for us,” he said.
He then reflected on the league’s rocky road to grand-final day after the board initially opted to play the deciders at the rundown Mildura Recreation Reserve.
“It was a roller-coaster ride, to say the least. But it’s great that it all came together so well,” Matheson said.
“Having said that, there are some learnings out of the day. We went in a bit light on alcohol, and we could have done with some more toilets.
“But the only reason the toilet and alcohol issue has been raised is because it was such a massive crowd.
“We had 1000 people watching the A-grade netball. That is a first, and to have such a cracker of a game was an absolutely incredible result for the sport.”
Meanwhile, Mildura police said the community had behaved well after no incidents or arrests were made across the day for high-risk behaviour such as driving while impaired or distracted.
