Ahead of its 100th anniversary next year, the Footscray Trugo Club is getting a new lease on life.
A unique game invented at the Newport railyards as a way of keeping rail workers fit, the Footscray Trugo Club began in 1926 and the clubrooms at its Buckley Street base date back to 1942.
But while the club itself is going strong, recovering from six year recess from 2009 to 2015, the clubrooms have long fallen into disrepair.
“It was just boarded up,” said president Stuart Lucca-Pope of the clubrooms building which players haven’t been able to use since the club was re-established in 2015.
“We’ve had a portaloo and that’s it.”
However, thanks to $1.3 million in funding from Maribyrnong council, change is afoot, with demolition work on the old clubrooms now underway and a new facility expected to be finished in time for the club’s centenary year.
“They’re making the clubhouse, which took up about a third of the old building, look like the original,” said Mr Locca-Pope of the new facility.
“The rest of the footprint will be a modern, multi-use community space. Toilets, a kitchenette and a big open space.”
Maribyrnong mayor Pradeep Tiwari said council was proud to fund the redevelopment.
“This project supports council’s commitment to enhance local sporting facilities, promote active lifestyles, and foster social connection within the Maribyrnong community,” Cr Tiwari said.
Mr Lucca-Pope said the new clubrooms will cap-off a decade-long effort to revive trugo in Footscray.
“The club’s going from strength to strength,” he said.
“We started with one team and now we have two teams. We won the grand final in 2023 and again this year, 2025.”
The club will send three teams to Canberra in October where trugo will feature in the Australian Masters Games for the first time.
