Warrnambool club welcomes partial refund after challenging year

Councillors voted on Monday night to refund a third of the winter tenancy fees to sports ground user groups.

Warrnambool Wolves president Brett Gasper said the partial refund would be a great help.

"Any funding relief any sporting club can get - given the last two years - would be greatly appreciated," Mr Gasper said.

"We've not been able to operate efficiently because we haven't been able to do things like open the canteen.

"It's made fund-raising extremely difficult."

However, Mr Gasper is confident about the club's future.

Despite the challenges of the past two years, player numbers have increased, Mr Gasper said.

"We're starting to see some real growth," he said.

"Hopefully we can get a full season in without any disruptions."

Mr Gasper said he would continue to lobby for a full overhaul of the facilities at the Harris Street Reserve.

"We're extremely grateful for what we've got, but the surface is far from ideal."

Mr Gasper said the club had outgrown the facilities.

Cr Max Taylor said he supported the partial refund of the fees.

"COVID has placed a huge financial burden on many businesses and organisations and sporting ground tenants fit right into this category as many sporting organisations have had little income at all," he said.

Councillors voted to waive a third of the fees for a total cost of $21,425 to the council.

Cr Ben Blain said he hoped the clubs would use the funds to prepare for a bigger and better season in 2022.

"I think it is really important we do give back to the clubs who weren't able to play for a third of the season due to these lockdowns," he said. "Especially with many of these clubs going through their second disrupted season."

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