IT WILL be a matter of short-term pain for long-term gain if the committee of the Hastings Cricket and Football Social Club recommendation succeeds in placing the organisation into a voluntary creditors wind-up at a special general meeting next month.
The committee has spent months trying to find a pathway forward from a dire financial situation caused by the venue’s gaming machines, but now believes the wind-up is the only way out. Declining use of the machines coupled with soaring government charges and taxes on gaming have changed the profits from the machines into losses, with attempts to negotiate with the state government regarding the situation failing.
“The committee have worked tirelessly to try and find a solution,” Hasting Club president David Gibbs said. “We have diligently kept members informed of the situation, and have explored all available avenues, but it is not feasible to continue trading in our current format, and we believe the club must end its association with gaming machines.”
Hasting Cricket Club was founded in 1887 and Hastings Football Club in 1891, but it wasn’t until 1967 that a group of 120 locals created the Hastings Cricket and Football Social Club Co-Operative to build clubrooms at Hastings Park.
In what was considered a ground-breaking community-driven effort, the clubrooms were built and in 1969 a new entity founded, the Hastings Cricket and Football Social Club.
In 1974, the club was the first cricket and football club in Victoria to hold a full liquor licence and in 1992 members voted to “put the club on the map” and decided to enter gaming. But the journey has not been without its challenges. The club is located on Crown land, resulting in difficulty securing financing when required due to a lack of property security. Further, the gaming machines have seen the club overlooked for government grants while many surrounding towns have seen extensive redevelopment of their sporting precincts.
“We must continue,” Gibbs said. “We have a 137-year history of cricket and 133-year history with football.”
The committee plans to start a new community-based entity, the Hastings Community and Sports Club, and start again as a grassroots organisation. “It will be hard work and we’ll need the support of the community to succeed, but succeed we will,” Gibbs said.
The committee believes that ending the club’s association with gaming machines will be the beginning of a new culture of community orientation while continuing its association with cricket and football and possibly other sports.
“There is no doubt the club did originally benefit from gaming,” Gibbs said. “But it must be acknowledged that it does damage in the community and retiring from gaming will attract new patrons to the club.”
Each year about $2.8 million is put through the club’s 50 gaming machines and more than $90 million is spent on pokies on the Mornington Peninsula each year, equating to nearly $250,000 a day. The new entity, reborn without gaming machines, has the support of Mornington Peninsula Shire, and opens the door to government grants.
“While other clubs have attracted huge government funding we’ve been constantly overlooked due to our association with gaming machines,” Gibbs said. “This has seen our venue fall behind, and we’ll be looking to attract government funding to redevelop our facilities. “And while the committee are obviously saddened by the folding of the current entity, we are excited at the prospect of a grassroots-driven sporting precinct with state-of-the-art facilities that will provide a long-lasting and sustainable benefit to the community.”
The move to wind up the Hastings Cricket and Football Social Club will be put members at a meeting to be held at the club at 6.30pm on 2 April.
First published in the Mornington News – 26th March 2024
