Itâs Official !!!
Yesterday we welcomed Hobsons Bay City Council Mayor Briffa, Cr Hemphill, Councillor Sutton-Legaud and The Honourable State Member for Williamstown Melissa Horne MP to Williamstown Soccer Club for the long awaited official opening of the newly completed JT Gray Reserve Pavilion.
We were honoured to also have the decedents of Captain James Taylor Gray OBE, MC, namesake of JT Gray Reserve join us for the ceremony.
Williamstown SC has come a long way in its 42 year history at JT Gray Reserve. From humble beginnings, the original Clubhouse was an old train carriage, which progressed into a small ATCO workmanâs hut, which grew to a larger workmanâs hut. As modest as our surroundings appeared, Williamstown Soccer Club has always been a welcoming, vibrant and inclusive community.
It was back in 2007, President Igor Zlateski had a vision and presented our very 1st request to Council for the construction of permanent clubrooms for a growing Williamstown Soccer Club (he still has the PowerPoint presentation! đ).
After 16 years of discussions, planning and construction we are grateful to Hobsons Bay City Council, the Victorian Labour State Government, and Football Federation Australia for delivering us such a stunning new building complete with dedicated female friendly facilities which will allow the Club to increase female participation and continue to grow year upon year.
The facility will also be shared by other local community sporting clubs, St Johnâs Cricket Club, Williamstown Congs Cricket Club, Barnestoneworth United Junior SC, and Barnestoneworth United FC.
We are so appreciative and proud of Igorâs perseverance and dedication to secure funding for the project in addition to subsequent Presidents Roger Corry and more recently, Sam Anicic and his side kick Henrik Nielsen who worked closely with Council until almost completion, before handing the reins over to our current President William Corry.
Our General Manger, Jason Drozdek also deserves a special mention for project managing the internal fit-out of our commercial kitchen and clubrooms and we look forward to whipping up some amazing Thursday night dinners for our members soon.
Thanks to the generosity and ongoing support of our sponsors and our members for supporting our fundraising efforts which have enabled the fit out of our dedicated space within the pavilion creating a warm and welcoming room that we can be truely proud of.
To all our volunteers - remember we couldnât do it with you! Thank you all !!!
The future is bright for Williamstown Soccer Club for another 42 years!
