Chapman Valley Football Club receives Telstra Footy Country Grant for new goal nets at Mazzuchelli Oval

The Chapman Valley Football Club has been awarded a country footy grant to help put up new goal nets. The Royals are one of 19 country clubs in WA to receive a Telstra Footy Country Grant, with upwards of $1 million going to more than 250 clubs across the country. Chapman Valley member and coach Aaron Thomas said the grant would go towards putting up netting behind the goals at Mazzuchelli Oval. “What we’re putting it towards is goal nets either end, so we get 20 metres wide by 10 metres high goal nets,” he said. “Which helps not only our club but it helps officials out when balls used to go over the fence and enter the paddocks across the road.” Having the netting behind the goals will help reduce game delays when umpires need to retrieve balls and reduce costs from balls getting lost in the paddocks. “It’s really beneficial; it will make our facility look a lot more professional and it also comes in handy for any other local sports groups that want to use the ground, so it’s quite multi-purpose,” Thomas said. “Especially for us … country clubs are aware it’s so hard to raise money for certain projects. You get a lot of wish projects that you want to get done, but you just can’t find the backing to get it done.” The nets are expected to be up and working in a few months. It comes as a grand redevelopment plan gets under way with the Mazzuchelli Oval precinct and new clubrooms coming over the next two years. “So to make our club a lot more modernised and multi-purpose, that’s our first step of evolving, so we’re pretty excited,” Thomas said.