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Sport and Recreation | November 03, 2022

Kealy serves up $259,000 for Horsham’s Coughlin Park

Member for Lowan Emma Kealy has announced that the Nationals in government will provide $259,000 to the Horsham Saints Football and Netball Club to upgrade two existing outdoor tennis courts at Horsham’s Coughlin Park, to enable them to be used for both netball and tennis.

The Coughlin Park Management Committee has created a master plan for the Coughlin Park precinct, with a key component being the redevelopment of two combined outdoor netball and tennis courts on the existing tennis court site.

The Horsham Saints Football Netball Club currently hires the St Brigid’s College stadium during the netball and football season, with all its netball played indoors. About 170 players use the single-court facility each week of the season.

The new courts would be built to meet Netball Victoria guidelines, allowing the Horsham Saints Football Netball Club to have full access to two outdoor courts and freeing up the stadium for more indoor sports such as basketball, volleyball and badminton.

Ms Kealy said the two existing courts that would be upgraded were in very poor condition.

“The Coughlin Park Management Committee and the wider sporting community have done an incredible amount of work over a long time to progress plans to redevelop this fantastic facility, and I am proud to stand with them and announce funding to help bring this important project to fruition,” Ms Kealy said.

“Coughlin Park is one of the Wimmera region’s premier sporting grounds and this project will breathe new life into this multi-use community asset so it can continue to be a meeting place for the Horsham community and our region for generations to come.

“Local sporting clubs are critical to the social fabric of our rural communities and are crying out for state government support to help with the upgrade of local facilities.

“Rural and regional areas deserve access to quality sporting facilities, and an elected Nationals and Liberals Government will provide exactly that.”