Shepparton already has a highly enthusiastic and active basketball community.
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It already has a basketball population that is competitive by participation with towns that have had far more investment over many years, such as Ballarat or Bendigo.
It already has a highly successful semi-professional team in the Shepparton Gators, who have ascended to the top division of Big V basketball and have hundreds gathered at the Shepparton Sports Stadium to watch and support during the season.
It already has a profitable junior tournament that brings thousands of families and players into the town, and millions into the local economy.
All while using an outdated 50-year-old stadium long overdue for an upgrade as its home base.
Basketball’s success despite lacklustre facilities has made semi-pro players, junior players, parents, family members, partners, leaders and business owners within Greater Shepparton question what would be possible if the basketball community was thrown a bone and received just a little bit of investment.
So, let’s check out another town and regional hub that has a stadium Shepparton can only envy at this point, and see what that’s done for its community.
Allow me to introduce you to Traralgon’s Gippsland Regional Indoor Sports Stadium (GRISS), the younger and more attractive cousin of the Shepparton Sports Stadium.
The current iteration of the stadium is just three years old, and following the 2020 upgrade, Traralgon was immediately able to lock in an NBL fixture in the 2021 season.
They have welcomed the South East Melbourne Phoenix to the venue for three consecutive years, with the most recent game taking place at the GRISS on December 16.
If a junior basketball tournament can bring in millions of dollars to our local community, one can only imagine how much an in-season game between two professional teams and players at the top level of Australian basketball would bring.
The partnership between Phoenix and Traralgon blossomed following a $19 million upgrade in 2020 (funded by the Victorian Government) that included four additional courts, a show court with 3000 retractable seats, additional office space, meeting rooms, cafe, entrance foyer, player and referee amenities and additional car parking.
Upon the completion of the development, then-Minister for Regional Development Jaclyn Symes said the state-of-the-art indoor sports stadium would provide benefits to the region for generations to come.
She also said the construction blitz created local jobs, with up to 120 workers estimated to have been on-site at the peak of the building cycle, plus an anticipated 275 ongoing operational and support roles at the completed facilities.
The total details of the facility include eight courts, a show court with 3000 seats, a function room with capacity for 100 people, 286 parking spaces and a cafe.
So, along with the revenue from an event like an NBL game, they have opportunities to supplement the local economy with proceeds from the cafe and the renting of the function room.
Beyond hosting the Phoenix, the facility has housed events including Commonwealth Games basketball, NBL 3x3 hustle games, NBL Blitz (pre-season tournament), WNBL matches, Super Netball games, country championships, the inaugural Australian Netball Championships and more.
If we get into the nitty-gritty of the quality of the facility, even the regular courts used for domestic basketball have bleachers or pull-out seats that clearly have more capacity than the grand stand on what would be our show court at the stadium (court one).
Essentially, in every which way you swing it, our facilities are strikingly inferior.
Let’s take a step back and get a little more context.
Traralgon’s population is approximately 27,500 compared to Shepparton’s 32,000.
The smaller town has the better stadium.
Now, that’s not the full picture obviously.
Just like the Shepparton Sports Stadium, the GRISS caters to the wider region.
Greater Shepparton has a population of approximately 68,000 and the City of Latrobe tallies approximately 77,000.
Realistically, the GRISS caters to a larger region, but only by about 10 per cent.
Their stadium has twice as many courts, a cafe and a show court with six times as much capacity.
Does that sounds like just a 10 per cent better stadium?
To add insult to injury, the state government just announced our last stadium showdown contestant, Bendigo’s Red Energy Arena, will be hosting a Boomers game in February.
The Boomers are Australia’s national basketball team.
The saying goes that jealousy is a disease, so here’s hoping our stadium gets well soon.
Show your support for our campaign by signing our petition at www.change.org/p/upgrade-the-shepparton-sports-stadium
Stand For Our Stadium: The story so far
Or reach out to us and have your say:
Contact details
News journalist Jay Bryce
5820 3195
@jaybrycenews on Instagram
Or The News desk at:
5831 2312
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