Lush, green McLean back in action

After a lengthy redevelopment costing more than $1 million, the first official games were played at Denmark’s McLean Park on Saturday in front of a bumper crowd.

Denmark-Walpole Football Club played their first home game of the Great Southern Football League season at McLean Park, with all four grades taking to the lush new surface.

The day lived up to the hype, with both the league and reserves games coming down to the wire in front of the large band of Magpies supporters.

The Magpies scored an impressive win in the colts and the day carried extra significance with the league fixture doubling as the Graham Hard Memorial Game.

Shire of Denmark president Ceinwen Gearon was delighted to have McLean Park back in action, saying the facility would be a massive asset to the community for years to come. “It has been a long process and we’ve taken a very cautious approach,” Cr Gearon said. “To have a safe and sturdy surface was the main thing.

“Ovals are the centre of communities in small country towns and this will be a fantastic surface for us going forward.

“So many of our sporting groups use this facility. We have junior and senior soccer, cricket, athletics and there is a rugby club as well so we look forward to having all those groups using the ground in the future.”

The oval itself has been reshaped, resurfaced, and drainage has been improved following problems in recent years after heavy rainfall.

A lighting upgrade and major upgrades of the cricket nets were also part of the project, which was delayed after striking rock during the works on the oval.

The DWFC relinquished the right to host this year’s GSFL grand final and will instead host it in 2020.

Despite chopping up a little bit, the Shire of Denmark and the DWFC were hopeful the Magpies would play their remaining two regular season fixtures at home.