February 2009 Cover Story

The Central Coast Mariners plans to build the finest state-of-the-art training complex and administrative centre in Australia took a giant leap forward in early December with members of the Wyong RSL Club agreeing to be part of a joint venture to develop their 9ha complex at Tuggerah.

“This will be a Centre of Excellence for football and will be the finest in Australia. It will give the Central Coast a confidence boost that no other project could achieve,” commented Mariners Chairman, Lyall Gorman on the RSL Club’s decision. The proposal was voted on at an extraordinary meeting of members of Wyong RSL Club who overwhelmingly agreed to combine with the newly formed Mariners FC Trust, to develop the Mariners at Tuggerah complex.

The Mariners at Tuggerah complex will be situated on approximately 9ha and has been designed with support from councillors and senior management at Wyong Shire Council. If the Master Plan is adopted by Council it will feature seven full sized playing fields, including a boutique arena, eight Futsal courts, an administration building of six storeys, a sports science building, a 120-room accommodation block, an indoor aquatic centre, gymnasium, refurbished licensed club and a 400 person capacity function centre.

“We must firstly thank and congratulate the members of Wyong RSL and the management of Wyong Council for identifying with the Mariners’ ambition to become the centre of excellence for football in Australia,” said Mariners Deputy Chairman Peter Turnbull.

“With their overwhelming support, we’ve overcome a significant hurdle from a planning perspective and can now begin the process of implementing a facility that will be the finest of its kind in Australia and perhaps the southern hemisphere.
“These are truly exciting times for Australian football and for the Mariners and this initiative will launch our club into a higher echelon and really set us apart from our competitors. Moreover, it will provide the people of the Central Coast and those who want to see Australian football with a truly world-class asset that will attract visitors locally and internationally.

“The next step is to lodge the Development Application to Wyong Shire Council in March this year, with the hope of receiving approval by June,” said Mr Turnbull. “We’ll then need to prepare full engineering and construction drawings for tenders to be issued in September. “We anticipate starting building on 5 January, 2010 and from there on we anticipate a build time of fourteen months,” said Mr Turnbull.

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