As the Wanneroo Basketball Association prepares to exit the Joondalup Basketball Stadium, bound for HBF Arena, at the end of 2017, a special 3-part web article series will focus on the early years of the Stadium.

Take a trip down memory lane, and learn about the stadium that has been the 'Home of the Wolves' for the past 35 years. 

 

Part 2 | Operating the Stadium

By Clelia Gough 

Almost on a daily basis one of us would look in on the stadium as it was being built. We had spent so much time and energy going through the plans, we knew every inch of that plan and in particular the Liquor licensing Board’s regulation around the distance of the bar area to the front door. 

When I walked in one day a brickie was constructing the wall to the bar area, I suggested that he have another look at the plan as I believed that the wall was too close to the front door. He of course gave me a dirty look and continued laying bricks.

I tracked down the Supervisor and asked him to confirm the proximity of that wall to the front door and explained the regulation set by the Board and the importance of it being accurate; as we relied on the income from the bar to help pay for the stadium.

The wall was over a metre too close to the front door and the brickie was instructed to pull it down and erect it in the correct place – lots of daggers were aimed at my back as I walked out!

The bar area was well attended and again run by the committee until we appointed one of the Player/Umpires to look after the bar for us. I noticed that “The Wall” has now been removed – the LLB are obviously not so strict these days.

When the Stadium was first built, the Committee managed the gate and collected the money, we eventually looked to some of our Senior Citizens to help out. We paid them a minimum amount, (they would have worked for nothing) but they generally worked for the activity and the opportunity to get out and make friends.

They were delightful, happy to help out and chatted to everyone that came into the stadium, making it an enjoyable entrance for Players and Spectators.

When we finally settled in we needed a logo, so we ran a competition for anyone to enter and Geoff Truman, (the then President of the Marlins Basketball Club), won with his interpretation of the Wolf’s Head and the Wanneroo Wolves were now official.

Geoff was a fantastic ambassador for the club and Association, he passed away a few years later.

Ed - the Wolfpack's new and dyanmic brand identity will be released later this year, coinciding with the Association's move to the HBF Arena.

As funds were low, the committee and our children swept the courts and grand stand, cleaned the bar area, washed glasses, cleaned the kiosk and vacuumed the carpets either early in the mornings or before we left the stadium after the last game finished at 10.00pm. After a few years, having had enough of all that extra work we employed someone to do most of that work for us.

Our Senior Umpires were a credit to us, they worked long hours and helped out where they could. The names I can remember, (my apology to those I have left out, it has been a few years) besides Peter Smith and myself, Graham Gough, Graeme Staples, Peter Jackson, Tom Redmond, Shane Davis, Murray Gulley, Carol Holmes, Mark Loxley, Bill Watts, Rob Gouldsmith, Phil Considine, Ross and Gail Summers. 

 

Part 1 | The Foundation Years – Read here

Part 3 | Memoirs and Stories – Due for September issue