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HISTORY OF
HOPPERS CROSSING SPORTS CLUB INC.

In 1983 the Hoppers Crossing Cricket Club (HCCC) and Hoppers Crossing Football Club (HCFC) moved from their previous location at Mossfiel Reserve to their current location at Hogans Road.  The facility was council provided and consisted of change rooms, a canteen, storeroom, showers and toilets.

In 1986, the two Clubs approached the Wyndham Council (nee Werribee Council) for funds to build a social room onto the existing facility.  Much of the work was supervised and/or completed by club members.  The Council loan allowed the bar to be built, which even some twenty years later is one of the best in the area.

In order to repay the loan, the HCCC and HCFC formed a Building Committee comprising of four members from each club to oversee the management of the new facility.  Each club had control of the rooms for their summer and winter seasons and the only outside source of income for the building committee was a bingo season at the local plaza.

By the early 1990s the Building Committee investigated the possibility of having management control the venue under one official banner.  The banner was the Hoppers Crossing Sports Club Inc. (HCSC) and the year was 1992.  As this change was made, one aspect that remained constant was that both clubs retained their identity and their six months as is evidenced by the fact that one is known as the Cats and the other as the Warriors.

In 1993, Footscray Football Club Ltd (FFC) approached the HCSC with a view to an arrangement whereby gaming machines would be placed at the Hogans Road facility.  Much discussion ensued as the prime responsibility of the HCSC was to ensure the members clubs were protected.

Eventually, after copious amounts of solicitors’ documentation, a joint venture was formed wherein FFC managed the gaming venture and the profits were split with an allocation to the HCCC/HCFC for pre-venture bar earnings.

The venture, where a “league” club joined forces with a “local” club, was the first of its kind in Australia and commenced in November 1995 when the gaming facility opened.

Rather than to make an annual distribution to the clubs’ members, the HCSC decided it would provide items for all, considered the benefit thereof.  Examples of those items included ground lighting, cricket roller, commuter bus, car park, etc.

The joint venture was contracted for a period of five years.  As the renewal date loomed, the HCSC approached FFC with the view to relocating the change rooms.  FFC’s stance was that it was not prepared to assist with a “non income-earning” facility.  That signified the end of the gaming joint venture.  Steps were taken to terminate the venture and in May 2001 the HCSC and FFC parted ways.

To facilitate the pay out made to FFC, the HCSC acquired a loan purely on a cash flow basis.  The decision to part ways essentially has allowed the HCSC to control its own destiny.

To this day, the buildings remain the property of the Wyndham Council.