A LOCAL sporting figure has revealed her disappointment when Mount Gambier City Council decided they would not support a bid to host the 2018 South Australian Masters Games.
Following the announcement that Tatiara District Council will support a push to host the games in 2020, Mount Gambier woman Jody Cook said the event could have been in the Blue Lake city earlier this year.
“I started the bid back in 2014 and I had commitment from over 20 different sporting groups, but it was all over when the council decided not to support it in 2015,” Ms Cook said.
“It would have been held back in April this year for a week and would have brought around 40,000 people to the town, providing a major economic boost to the city.”
All the wheels were in motion to submit an expression of interest in 2015 following a mountain of work undertaken by Ms Cook and other volunteers.
However, at around the same time the Riddoch Art Gallery was taken over by council and it elected not to invest in the bid.
“I was extremely disappointed and that’s putting it nicely,” Ms Cook said.
“There were so many people looking forward to it – we had all the sporting groups represented and then it did not go ahead.
“I have five folders sitting at home full of documents regarding how the event would be conducted in the city and it was just waiting for council approval.”
While council chief executive officer Mark McShane would not go into the particulars of why the bid was not supported, he was open to the idea of hosting the event in the future.
“Council has a range of priorities that vary and needs to undertake the best decisions on behalf of the community at that time,” Mr McShane said.
“Mount Gambier has previously hosted the games and based upon significant local sporting interests, should it be presented to council, a decision may be made to host the games in the future.”
Ms Cook revealed the contribution being sought from council at the time was around $15,000.
“The main thing they were required to do was buy the licence and the software,” Ms Cook said.
“They would have also had to provide the man hours to make sure the grounds and the city were well-prepared, but we were not asking for a whole lot and it would have been great for the city.”
Ms Cook was not surprised to hear the Tatiara District Council would be supporting a bid to host the games.
“Good luck to them – anyone supporting sport down in the South East is a great thing,” she said.
“It is so important to get out and be active at any age and this event certainly encourages that.”
