QUEANBEYAN Tigers general manager Ron Fowlie says he’s confident the club’s major grand stand refurbishments remain on track to be completed in time for the start of the NEAFL season.
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Dairy Farmers Park has been undergoing significant renovations over the off-season with the construction of new home and away change rooms, an enlarged canteen and new umpiring facilities.
The $400,000 refurbishments also include the provision of a disabled toilet for the first time at the ground and new facilities for the club’s women’s outfit the Tigerettes.
The work had been tracking behind schedule late last year after heavy rain in November delayed the project by several weeks.
But Fowlie said construction had since been progressing well with completion targeted for the end of February.
“Early on we were struggling when we were having a fair amount of rain but leading into Christmas and since then it’s progressed well,” he said.
“A lot of the hard work has already been done and the foundations are in so by the start of the season it should all be up and running.
The Tigers play their first home game of the 2014 NEAFL season against Sydney University on April 5.
Fowlie said the work was the first substantial renovation of the grand stand since the facility was constructed in 1979, more than 40 years ago.
And Fowlie said he was confident that once complete, the Tigers’ new facilities would equal or exceed those of any club in Canberra or country NSW.
“Aside from Manuka Oval, I would think the new facilities will rate as highly if not better than any facility in Canberra,” he said.
“That’s all part of us as a club meeting the criteria laid down by the NEAFL to remain a part of that competition.”
Fowlie acknowledged the ongoing renovations have posed some difficulties for the club’s preseason campaign but said the disruption had been minimal.
Funding for the grand stand upgrades has been provided by Queanbeyan City Council, the AFL and the Tigers.