Goulburn Regional Hockey Centre officially opens

The Goulburn Regional Hockey Centre on Finlay Road officially opened on Saturday, March 26 before a triple header was played on the water based pitch.

Those present on the day included Member for Goulburn Wendy Tuckerman, Hume MP Angus Taylor and former Kookaburra Glenn Turner.

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Goulburn Mulwaree Council mayor Peter Walker started proceedings by thanking the community and volunteers who give so much to the sport of hockey in town.

"I think this has been a long time coming," Cr Walker said.

"Getting this establishment back in council hands is for the good of the community.

"We received somewhere around $3.8m towards the project which is a very important contribution to something in this community.

"Equally as important is the Goulburn District Hockey Association (GDHA).

"They had a little chest of $100,000 which they committed very early in the discussions, so wherever this facility was going to be built, they were going to support it in any way possible."

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One person integral to the development of the new stadium was Ms Tuckerman who was a former hockey player herself.

"Hockey is embedded in Goulburn and when I was first elected into my role, I had a knock on my door from president Sharney Fleming who wanted to tell me about the situation hockey found itself in," Ms Tuckerman said.

"There were plans to move this facility down the road and what we now have is a first class facility that is going to be the envy of the region.

"We will now see hockey grow into the future."

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GDHA president Sharney Fleming officially opened the ground along with Ms Tuckerman who spoke about how important it was to have the second field.

"I'm honoured to be here as president to open this new turf and facility," Ms Fleming said.

"It's been a long and hard process, but it's definitely been worth the wait and energy to be able to take and welcome the first water based pitch in town.

"For our local competition, the past five years have been run conservatively on one pitch.

"We hope that with the introduction of the new field and possibly, the extension of the other one, we will go from strength to strength."

There was a free sausage sizzle on the day as well as a tryout hockey event and three Capital League matches all involving Goulburn teams.

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