Andrew Mathieson
ONE OF Geelong’s oldest sport associations faces an uncertain future on the eve of another milestone.
Geelong Unity Netball Association is celebrating its 85th year but officials fear the milestone could be its last as netballers choose to team up with football clubs.
Association president Liz Coles said the number of players on the association’s asphalt courts at Kardinia Park was dwindling.
“It’s certainly heading in that direction,” she said.
“I think football/netball clubs is what everybody thinks is the way to play. They’ve forgotten there are other grassroots associations.”
Ms Coles said the former unity girls club, which also hosted tennis and swimming competitions as well as cookery classes during holidays, planned a historical celebration in June or July.
The netball association formed after English women arrived in Geelong to work in the city’s woollen mills.
The association organised summer competitions under lights as it became the largest and strongest competition outside Melbourne.
Asphalt eventually replaced the association’s gravel courts near a former duck pond and zoo site, Ms Coles said.
“When they put the asphalt courts down, my dad used to say everybody knew it as a zoo because it had monkeys there and swans on the lake.”
Ms Coles said the association was pinning its hopes for a revival on a Net Set Go program for children aged five to seven.
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