Standing high and dry in the MLT Event Centre in Gore are
(from left) Eastern Southland Netball president Jill
Templeton, ES Netball publicity officer Anne Reid and
committee member Bobbi Brown. Photos by Margaret Phillips
and Sandy Eggleston.
It can rain, blow, freeze or snow and Eastern Southland
netballers do not care.
The first round of grading games for the new season was
played last week inside the $3 million MLT Event Centre.
Officially opened in November last year, the building
comprises more than 3000sq m of clear-span space, housing
changing rooms, 300 permanent tiered seats, four netball
courts, two basketball courts and three tennis courts.
The Gore Multi-sports Centre Charitable Trust was responsible
for overseeing the building of the event centre, which was
stage three of the multi-sport complex.
The MLT Event Centre.
Gore District Council corporate services general manager
Russell Duthie said the council was investigating the best
long-term ownership structure for the event centre in
association with the trust.
The trust had suggested the council take over the ownership
of the event centre.
Sporting codes including netball, basketball and tennis would
be using the centre, Mr Duthie said.
The National Bank Young Farmer Competition was also to be
held at the centre in July, Mr Duthie said.
"It is an event centre designed to be able to cater for a
range of events both sporting and other," he said.
The council had just appointed Dan Winkel as its event centre
supervisor, he said.
The complex included an ice-skating rink, aquatic centre, the
event centre and the Eastern Southland Hockey Association had
recently opened its water-based hockey turf next to the
indoor complex.
Eastern Southland Netball president Jill Templeton said the
76 teams, involving about 700 players placed in 12 sections,
would be graded after this week's games.
Then the competition proper would begin for the season.
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