History of the Tregenza Oval & Clubhouse

In the Minutes of the Committee Meeting of 13th July 1955 "it was resolved that the Assistant Hon. Secretary be asked to enquire into the availability of a playing field on Frome Road and also the possibility of creating a club shed or shelter shed on the ground."

On the 27th February 1956 a meeting held at the Saint Peter's College Mission "suggested that the Linden Park Oval may be suitable for a home ground and it was decided that the matter be left to the Secretary to investigate."

On the 29th January 1957 "We think that we may be able to secure a ground at St. Peters College with the intention of calling it our Home Ground.  Rev Father Witt promised to make a personal contact to someone at the College regarding this matter."

At the Annual General Meeting of 1956 held on Friday 8th February 1957 it was stated that "no home ground had been established as yet." while at a meeting of the 28th February the "secretary reported that S.A.R.U. had arranged a home ground for the Club at Linden Park.  It was agreed that the Committee inspect the ground at a convenient time to assess all the matters related to keeping the ground in good order."   "Mr. C.L. Holdich generously offered to make and supply corner posts for the new home ground."
Meanwhile, "practices are to be held on the PAC Back Oval, as last year.  The Headmaster Mr. J.A. Dunning is (to) be thanked once more by the Club."

The Grounds were not yet established.  In the Minutes of the 12th of August 1957 " ... the Committee have hoped that a ground at Payneham at the corner of Felixstowe and Payneham roads, may be available, rent free, to the Club, to be developed into a Rugby Home Ground.  The Committee will probably investigate the matter within a week or so" ... "It was also learnt ... that if the Club does develop the ground at Payneham .... all gate takings on a ground such as this must go to the SARU"

In the 1957 Annual Report "At last we have a home-ground.  The Linden Park ground and it's facilities, in an attractive setting, have been made available to us by the Rugby Union.  Late in the season, in the offing, there was talk of acquiring our own Club ground and establishing a Clubroom and Rugby field.  This is the ideal that was left in mind, and the matter at present rests in the negotiating stage."

The change rooms were then initially a green shed while refreshments were served out of an accompanying lean-to.  In ? the clubhouse was built but without the change rooms beneath the main floor - this was for some time a mudpatch much loved by the children of the club's players.  In 1978 the change rooms beneath were built.  In ? the extension to the right of the building was laid and a roof provided in 2000. 
When the Club had no clubhouse various hotels in town were favoured as meeting places with the Feathers and the ? being the most notable. In that period when the Club had as members the Aides-de-Camp from Government House, that fine building was favoured by the presence of various of the Club's members.

In 1971 (refer to the President's Report) the Club returned to Linden Park oval, after the site had been levelled and re-grassed the previous year (the cutting is represented by the slope down from the car-park side of the oval), and now re-named Tregenza Oval.  Unfortunately, 1971 saw 11 inches of rain turn the new oval into a bog ("thick, smelly, oozy mud"), which was how it remained for the rest of the year.  New goal posts were erected.   The clubhouse was being built - financed by fundraising and donations, most notably from Sir Norman & Lady Jude, Leigh Garner and others from interstate. 

The ground was named after an alderman of Burnside Council.  The plaque by the steps from the lower car park notes "This tablet commemorates the naming of this oval in recognition of the services rendered to the city of Burnside by T.B.C. Tregenza Esq. as Alderman and Councillor 1954-1969"  Signed W.H.W. Roney J.P., Mayor and dated the 6th of April 1971

In 1974 the Club was looking to buy a number of telephone boxes from the PMG (now Telstra) ... " ... The club is interested in these boxes so that we may provide shelter as well as comfort for our gatekeepers who are provided to us by the Salvation Army Mens home opposite our clubrooms."  (Ed... Were the gatekeepers requisitioned from the Salvos in quantities greater than but not in excess of ....)

In the "Old Collegians Rugby News", edition 5/78: "The Club has received a grant and extensions to the club are underway ...... consist basically of new changing rooms, a juniors room and a store for Council equipment"

October 1st 1978 marked the official opening of the club's extensions.
On the 4th March 1979 Dinny Farrah started work building the outside benches.

February 10th 1982: President suggested, and committee agreed, that one of the Club stands should be nmed the Brian Douglas stand.  A naming ceremony will be arranged."

The 26th January 1996 edition of the Tregenza Times noted that " ... you may not know that we have secured a second ground at Urrbrae Agricultural High School.   It is on their main oval on Cross Road and we will have a full size rugby pitch and training floodlights in place for the beginning of this coming season.  It is our intention to use this ground to take some, not all, of the rugby traffic from Tregenza ... "
In the edition of the 25th of February "Training seems to be going well on the new Urrbrae field." and "Floodlights will be installed at Urrbrae within the next two weeks.  The old goal-post from Tregenza will be transplanted to the Urrbrae paddock, with a new goal-post to be installed at Tregenza"

Also in the edition of the 25th of February: "At the clubhouse, stairs have been built from the carpark up to the 'supporters' deck, relegating the muddy hill to the distant memory!  The deck will be extended further to hold more supporters and their combined drinking arms."

On Friday 1st March 1996, night games were started prior to the regular season commencing after Easter.

There were further extensions to the clubhouse in 1999.  (Photo courtesy of ??).

There are a number of negatives of the aerial view of Tregenza oval and the clubhouse, taken some time in the 1970's. Below is one of them.

Replacing the railing, 2002.  The photo shows Graham Raymond, Denzil Church and Mira in the background.  Missing are Bulla Rokobaro & Murray Curran.   Don't be fooled by Denzil's use of a spirit level ...

Tregenza Times, 10th May 1988

"From Max Ball in Geraldton, W.A. who moved to the west at the end of 1964 comes a letter expressing appreciation for the welcome given to him at the Club on what he describes as 'the too few occasions' when he has been able to visit OCRFC. Also included was a little history which might interest readers. Appropriately, the letter arrived on Veteran's Day.

'In 1964 the Clubhouse was an idea in the minds of the late Syd Feldheim and other members and, as I recall, fundraising began. The (present) premises are a vast improvement on change rooms which typically had no lights, no hot water and therefore cold showers and frequently muddy floors.

For the inevitable after match post-mortem, the Botanic Hotel was the favoured venue. Then, as I read now, the ladies of the Club played an important part in our success.  For home games they would serve tea, scones, etc., on the side of the field with the slightest only protection from the elements.'

Well - some things changes and some don't. The ladies are still serving food and the changeroom floor is probably still muddy but other facilities are considerably better than in 1964. 

Max Ball played 2nds and 1sts for the Club in 1962, 63 and 64 and he was the S. Wood Memorial Trophy winner for best club man in 1964. He is currently General Manager for the Geraldton Fishermen's Co-operative Ltd."