The Roos' Club
History
The Roos’ Club had its genesis upon the completion and Official Opening of the new state of the art clubrooms premises located at Victor Harbor Oval, South Australia in March 2019.
Founded in 1885, the Victor Harbor Football Club had occupied clubrooms at the oval (on the site of the Roos’ Club) which were renovated in the 1950’s and have served the club admirably in the years since.
Increased player and membership numbers, particularly with the introduction of women’s football into the Great Southern Football Association competition, meant the clubrooms needed an upgrade to comply with new state legislative requirements for Work, Health and Safety, including the need for female changeroom facilities, and also to comply with Child Protection legislation.
The 2022 Victor Harbor Roos Club board of directors including, at back, Clayton Elder, chair Rob Heaslip, Ian Croshaw, Stuart Johnson, Mark Crowe with, at front, Kent Johncock, Ron Teusner, Simon Grenfell and Jason Mann.
At the same time Victor Harbor RSL sub-branch, which was formed in 1919, found itself in need of new premises when its temporary premises in the former Victor Harbor Library building was no longer available. Former Victor Harbor Football Club president Grant Retallick and then president of the Victor Harbor RSL sub-branch David Miller discussed options and conceived the idea of the RSL sub-branch and football club coming together in a shared facility.
And, so the Roos’ Club became the logical outcome to provide a joint-use facility for the two well-respected and long-serving organisations, as well as to create a quality venue that could be used by the local community.
What happened next?
Discussion between the two organisations resulted in an agreement to seek a joint-use facility.
In 2016 the Federal Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities committed $500,000 towards the project, providing seed funding for what was to become a $1.5 million building project.
Following Development Application approval received from the City of Victor Harbor, local building contractor South Coast Constructions was chosen to undertake the project and commenced siteworks in 2017.
A Management Board was formed comprising Committee Members drawn from the Football Club and RSL and an Independent Chairman, Secretary/Manager and Treasurer. Mr Grant Retallick, a former Victor Harbor Football Club President and retired builder was appointed as Project Manager to oversee the building works.
Subsequent additional funding was received from the Office for Recreation, Sport and Gaming, the Department of Veterans’ Affairs and the City of Victor Harbor and the project received a Certificate of Completion on 18 February 2019.
And here we are
The building was finished on time and on budget and has a current commercial value of $3.5 million.
On 1 March 2019 the facility was officially opened by Senator Hon. Anne Ruston, Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific, and commenced trading at that time.
Trading under the registered business name of ‘The Roos’ Club’, the bar, kitchen/dining and function areas of the new facility operate under the Victor Harbor RSL and Football Club Management Board, and the RSL sub-branch and Football Club retain their separate identities and memberships.
Looking to the future, there is a high degree of optimism that the three organisations (RSL, VHFC and Management Board) will continue to grow and develop the new clubrooms to become a major best practice sports, recreation and community facility that will benefit Victor Harbor and surrounding areas for many years to come.
