Melanie Riley
THE Mount Gambier Pioneers Basketball Club has been granted extra funding from the City of Mount Gambier.
As part of their Community Partner Proposal for 2024/2025, Mount Gambier Pioneers Basketball Club president Tom Kosch presented several requests for increased funding to the council.
A request was made to increase the Community Partnership Agreement’s sponsorship amount from $25,000 to $40,000, to be applicable per season for two years – 2024 and 2025.
A request was also made that the council cover all costs associated with providing the audio, until a more permanent audio solution can be found, which is $800 per game, totalling $8,800 (excluding GST) for the 11 home games for the 2024 season.
It was also requested that the council consider a request for financial support directly linked to the 2024 NBL pre-season game – if secured.
At the May meeting, the recommendation was moved that council would increase the financial support for the Pioneers Basketball Club 2024 season by $15,000 to an amount of $40,000 out of the current budget.
Council had already agreed in March this year to contribute funds to support a temporary sound system for the 2024 season, following the Pioneers relocation from the Icehouse Stadium to the new Wulanda Recreation and Convention Centre in 2023.
The agreed sum was up to the value of $8,000 from the existing Pioneers budget allocation of $25,000 and an additional allocation of up to the value of $3,600 in the event that the Pioneers Men and/or women were successful with hosting the 2024 Season Finals and an Adelaide 36ers game.
As part of agreement made in the May meeting, it was also agreed that following the increase, an Elected Members workshop be scheduled to be conducted before the end of November 2024 to discuss Councils overall contribution to the Pioneers Basketball Club sponsorship and access to Wulanda.
Representatives of Pioneers and Belgravia would also be in attendance as appropriate to provide Council information.
Councillor Max Bruins said the funds would be a positive investment for the club and the local community.
“For me, I think the Pioneers are in a different league to the other sporting clubs that typically apply to that fund,” he said.
“The idea behind that funding is to provide those smaller clubs with the opportunity to access funds for capital and infrastructure projects, and, the Pioneers are our only national team based out of Mount Gambier and we need to show our support.
“Like us, they’ve got cost pressures as well so I think giving them the security of funding now and working with them to lock that in moving forward is a wise thing.”
Mount Gambier Pioneers Basketball Club president Tom Kosch welcomed the extra funding and said the support from the council was much appreciated.
“We’re extremely grateful for the support that the City of Mount Gambier provides our basketball club,” he said.
“The increased cost that our club incurs competing within the competition we do, but also the raised costs that everyone is experiencing in business at the minute affects the club and us all differently.
“Without the council’s support it would make it extremely challenging and affect the sustainability of our basketball club.”
Mr Kosch said the extra funding would be used mostly for the expenses they have incurred following the move to Wulanda and the day-to-day operations of the club.
“It also assists us in being able to continue to develop our basketball programs here, as well as provide a sustainable entertainment product for members of our community to come and support the Pioneers,” he said.
“I would really like to thank the members of the City of Mount Gambier and the council itself for their continuous support of our basketball club, and we look forward to continuing to grow our partnership for the future.”
