BULLDOG BARK  

JUNE 2018

Change of Format!

Welcome one and all to our new format for the Bulldog Bark, the traditional Newsletter for the Port Football Club. The previous A3 front and back broad sheet had served us well for many, many years, but the time has come to find a cheaper and easier way to get our message out to more members. We understand this will not suit everyone and we make a commitment to do our best to find a way to get this publication to every member that wants it. So please if you or someone you know cannot access this Newsletter online refer to the Bulldog Bytes section at the bottom of this document or on the website.

Now please bear with us for the first few editions of this newsletter as we work out what will work best and what people want to read! We will have a crack at a few new articles and as this one has been a while in the pipeline a few of these may be a bit longer than in future additions. All segments won’t appear each edition and we are happy to take suggestions.

Board Games!

We will use this section as a bit of a summary of what the board has been up to, things we are looking at and possible directions for the future. As a board we have decided to try and be as open and informative as we can within reason as we know people are keen to know what is going on and importantly that people care about the club. We hope it helps. 

With this being the 2^nd year of solely hosting footy with the exciting new redevelopment of Memorial Oval this has placed huge pressure on our resources, finances and volunteers once again. In summary some of the things we have done to the oval prior to and since the commencement of Match Day footy include

• A new set of opposition changerooms
• Division of home changerooms from weights room
• Male and female umpires changerooms & League/match day room
• 2 sets of coaches boxes/Umpires box/Timekeepers box/Entry gate box 
• fencing off the remainder of the club property particularly between the club and Coles
• Opening up and marking parking on the western most block behind Coles
• Gates to the large shed plus plenty of parking and traffic flow signage
• Ex Footy Park seating to the poormans grandstand and various sections of the oval
• All weather cover for standing patrons in front of the changerooms
• Cementing of heavy foot traffic areas in front of club
• Cement connecting old and new club plus plenty more 

We have learnt much from last year and with the fabulous work done via those helping in the canteen (now located in the front foyer) and the beer van on the eastern wing we have improved the football day figures. It is important, however, that our members understand that whilst we thank and appreciate immensely the SGL assistance with funding and interest free loans afforded to us, the exercise of hosting Football at our oval has cost the club a considerable amount of money, over $100,000. 

The board though, appreciates the opportunity to improve our facilities and moreso host League games at our own oval for the first time in our 100 plus year history was too good an opportunity to waste. We have endeavoured to clarify with the SGL what future years hold for us without any definitive answer as yet. In fairness the SGL has had plenty on its plate. Our position at this point, will be to host our home games at the Port Oval, and for SGL to commit to almost exclusive Saturday football, in Port Pirie at least. It will require changes and challenges with umpire availability and stretching of resources, but for the SGL and our Club we are sure the pluses far outweigh the negatives.

The continued debate regarding the possible clubroom changes continue. In short the issues we have are

• Access to the female toilets for front bar patrons, particularly underage, if there is an event in the main room
• No disabled toilets
• Aging internal fixtures, fittings, décor and styling
• Pokie room is dated and comparatively old in comparision to competition
• Possible glycol system for the bar plus tidying up of the bar and coin change area
• Office access, size and positioning.
• Suitable displaying or our memorabilia
• Cleaning up and improving our data, IT and electrical wiring and labelling

The club had a quote and plans done to join the two clubrooms, build a new board room, office, reception, entrance, extra toilets and memorabilia area that would have been spectacular but the $1M plus price tag in the end was deemed too prohibitive and didn’t address enough of the issues with the existing clubrooms that need attention to go ahead.

In upcoming Barks we will expand on a few of the options we are looking but the time for action will be soon!

In other news the club has had as much change in the last two years as at any other stage in our long and distinguished history. We believed the club had been in a lull to get a different result we needed to do different things. Some of the things that have changed are

• The logo including additional colours included
• Stepping up our online presence (including this production, the new website including mobile compatibility, facebook, twitter)
• Quality new clubwear
• New social events 
• Higher volunteer interaction 
• New season starter and club presentation night.

These changes have bought plenty of robust discussion, both on the board, and within our membership. We know not everyone has agreed with all we have done and acknowledge mistakes will be made from time to time. I think though everyone agrees we are all striving to improve things and we all have Port at heart and the changes are now starting to turn heads, change opinions and bear results in many areas. The current board has a tough job given the spectacular position that previous boards have put us in and this weight of expectation and anticipation is not lost on todays group. 

We look forward to the challenge and the rise of the PortFC back to the top of the pack! Go Doggies