The Club House

To the town hall down at Caulfield, to the place where bingo’s played, see the Harlequins assemble…not this time with glasses held on high, but resplendent in dinner suits and on their best behaviour. It is Monday September 12, 1977 and the hundreds of punters arriving for the inaugural Harlequin bingo night are far from the types who usually support rugby club fund-raisers. They pay $2 each for up to three books of 10 tickets that will give them three hours’ entertainment and a crack at the jackpot. At 7.30 Club president Colin Rowlinson steps on to the stage, delivers a short welcome speech and then it’s eyes down for the first game. As the first numbered ball rises from the bingo blower the caller begins his chant; seven and nine - seventy-nine; two fat ducks – twenty two; on its own - number six; two fat ladies – eighty-eight; legs - eleven, seventy-seven sunset strip. As each number is called the corresponding number lights up on a big yellow electric scoreboard until the first excited winner calls out  ‘’BINGO!’’

Just three days after the proclamation of a new law allowing the game to be played publicly in Victoria the Harlequins had taken the first step towards a new and permanent home at Ashwood Reserve, Waverley. It would take them 10 years to achieve their goal. The effort helped several Harlequins achieve life membership. Others would be made members for life for their fund-raising efforts. At the time, however none would have dared guess how much blood, sweat, toil and tears lay ahead of them.

Since the mid 1960s the Harlequin club had been in limbo, its activities divided between three distant grounds, each different in character and none entirely suitable.

Glen Iris Park was indisputably the Harlequins’ spiritual base. It had a wonderful feel about it, an ambiance that made everyone who had trained and played there feel at home. The pitch nestled beneath a high railway embankment that protected it from icy winter winds while the embankment itself remained visually obscured by a long line of trees. On the other side a branch drain from Gardiner’s Creek coursed through the park at an angle and unless it could be filled-in or covered the ground would never be able to accommodate the two pitches the club ideally required for all of its home fixtures. It seemed not to matter that there was an ugly pylon bearing high voltage power lines over the creek and over the far corner of the pitch but the playing surface was not always so easy to ignore. In the wet it turned malodorous and muddy and as each game ended players queued patiently for their turns under inadequate showers in a cramped and deteriorating weatherboard shed. Sometimes it felt like the Glen Iris change room was held together only by its layers of green paint. Victoria’s urban planners had long past penciled in a new road to run through the ground and the Club waited while politicians argued the toss between an arterial and a freeway. Whichever, it meant Glen Iris Park could never be anything but a temporary home. Consequently, it was relegated to a secondary role as the Club’s training venue and home ground for the third and fourth grades until circumstances permitted it a brief revival as our main ground in 1983. The annual report that year summed up our feelings. ‘’The place really does have a good ‘’rugby’’ atmosphere about it and it will be missed when the expressway goes through.’’

Harlequin Park was supposed to have replaced Glen Iris as the new headquarters, our own property to develop as we wanted. The club bought the freehold site in Glasscocks Road, Lyndhurst during Rodney Stone’s presidency in 1963-64 intending to create two match-standard playing surfaces and a clubhouse. It acquired a stock standard government issue timber hut from the Department of Supply for the princely sum of 10 pounds and then spent hundreds more to have it transported to the site in four separate wide loads under police escort. By the time the new clubhouse was fitted-out with toilets, showers and bar and the Club completed the first of the two intended pitches it had spent $7793. But everything there seemed to go wrong. It was located among broad acres along an un-made gravel road mid-way between Frankston and Dandenong, It really was in the middle of nowhere and the senior grades that used the ground, their opponents and spectators alike, found it a long journey to home fixtures, not to mention a hazard for drivers returning to the suburbs after a few drinks. It was windy, treeless and flood-prone. When floodwaters receded and the pitch dried great cracks opened that were capable of breaking the ankles of the thickest of second row forwards. It was invested with bull ants and rabbits and was at times invaded by cows from the farm next door leaving hoof-prints as dangerous as the cracks, not to mention unpleasant cowpats.

After a particularly wet autumn in 1975 it took half the season to make the badly churned up pitch playable so ideas of developing a second pitch had long been forgotten when the club decided in 1977 to abandon Harlequin Park and put it on the market.

Columbia Reserve in Jells Road, Wheelers Hill was at first home to the juniors which had been reformed in 1975 and for strategic purposes renamed the Waverley Harlequin Junior Rugby Club. Barely a stone's throw from the then new VFL Park the reserve was in the heart of Melbourne's burgeoning outer eastern suburbs and ideally situated to attract young recruits to rugby. It had an adequate playing surface that was to serve both the juniors and the senior club well in the coming years but there was only one pitch and it was situated on high ground and exposed to the elements.  A brick pavilion at the southern end of the pitch provided spectators with a small seated stand in which to shelter from wind and rain and while the change rooms were well suited to that job it would never be an ideal clubhouse for the Harlequin Club.

Socially the club was similarly spread across the suburbs. The bar at Harlequin Park was prone to disaster especially when amateur barmen clogged beer lines and flooded the floor in their attempts to tap pressurised barrels. It tested the patience of thirsty drinkers as volunteer bar staff waded through the slosh to serve them.

Glen Iris had its problems too. The change room was inadequate for socials so after training and matches players and spectators would adjourn to the old Malvern Vale Hotel in Malvern Road or Union Hotel in High Street, Malvern, and in later years to the Eastern Suburbs API (Australia Post-tel Institute) clubrooms, an arrangement that at least allowed the club to run its own bar and make a bit of profit.

By 1977 it was clear to everyone that things could not go on like this indefinitely. The potential for growth, especially as the juniors graduated to senior rugby, the inadequacies of Harlequin Park and the growing uncertainty over the freeway at Glen Iris all demonstrated a need to centralise activities and find a permanent home. The club secretary Stan Gyles watched with growing interest as the Victorian government, bowing to public pressure, introduced a bill to legalise bingo. He suggested to the February committee meeting that it might be a way for the Harlequins to raise money for a new clubhouse and with the club's permission he set up a committee of three to explore the possibilities. His two companions in this venture, David Bray, a half back and flanker from the 60s and Andy Corp a second row forward from the same era who shared a house in Elizabeth Street Kooyong; three rugby-mad bachelors, entrepreneurial in spirit and, dare we say it, partners in crime.

They decided from the outset that if the Harlequin Club was going to run a bingo operation in competition with like of the Australian Rules footy clubs, the RSL and other organisations it would need to be thoroughly professional and better than the others. They would need a good venue in the right area and they would need all the necessary equipment, especially a machine to lift and blow out the numbered balls and an electric scoreboard to show the numbers that would be clearly visible from the back of a large hall. It would need seed money.

To get this initial capital they dreamed up a mischievous plan to sell programmes outside Olympic Park to soccer fans at the upcoming World Cup qualifying match against Iran on August 14. From past experience they knew that while the Australian Soccer Federation did not have the acumen to sell their own official programmes in the street they would never give permission to, of all people, a rugby union club. They knew also that the club would never gives its official blessing to an unofficial escapade like this, so to separate the Harlequin Club from such a frolic the trio founded the entirely informal GBC Promotions.

The programmes were a single folded A4 sheet that contained a summary of the Soccer World Cup competition, a history of the two teams and details of the players in the Australian and Iran squads with some names incorrectly spelt. David Learmonth, a former first grade captain and Victorian state hooker and a teacher organised his students at Melbourne Grammar School to print them on the school press. The trio then borrowed three white dust jackets from a chemical laboratory to make themselves  look official.

As they took up positions outside the ground calling out:  ``Programmes 50cents'' the stunned soccer officials reacted angrily. Inside Olympic Park they broadcast a warning against the sale of unofficial programmes outside the ground. Gyles said he could hear the announcements while in front of him customers queued up in a line that snaked all the way round the corner. The soccer federation called in the police and Gyles and Bray, too busy with their sales to see the wallopers coming, were arrested – although soon released without charge. The tall Corp said that above the heads of the crowd he noticed two police caps moving towards him and he scarpered before they could say `allo-`allo. He re-established himself farther down Swan Street towards Richmond.

The money earned that night went towards the $900 purchase of materials for a 4x2-metre electric scoreboard. It was built by a team of club members that included Gyles, Bray, Corp and Peter McCaffery with electrical expertise from John Stone and Phil McManus, who turned the lounge-room in Elizabeth Street into a workroom filled for several weeks with sawdust and a spaghetti tangle of wires. To test it the scoreboard was carried on to the verandah while workmen assembled at the bottom of the garden issued electrical charges to light up the numbers.

The club secured a six month lease with Caulfield Council for the hire of the town hall on Tuesdays and Thursdays and once the government proclaimed the legislation on Friday September 8 The Harlequins were set to become the first to operate bingo in a Victorian town hall. That weekend a tiny advertisement in The Herald announced: ``Bingo - Caulfield Town Hall - Monday September 12 and Thursday September 15 - Doors open 6.30. - Free refreshments Big Jackpots’’. For the first time and certainly not the last the call went up for volunteers to help the Harlequins into their own premises. Members were asked to act as hosts, ushers, gofers, tea ladies, dishwashers and whatever else was needed. It asked also that they wear dinner jackets and black ties. The response was magnificent as the 1977 annual report testified. It thanked club members Sam Bell, Jim Blackie, Peter Bolton, Fred Botica, Bill Chandler, Marion Farmer, Tony James, Stewart Jarrett, Peter Renkert, Jim Lamb and James Wadsworth for their loyalty and support in giving up at least one night a week. It was an incredible success from the first night. The bingo team hired a professional entertainer with experience in bingo calling in England to kick-start the event and to show our own callers David Bray and Tony James by example how it was done. That night the jackpots jumped from $50 to $280 and the Club cleared nearly $800 profit. Also, as luck would have it the following Friday The Age Good Weekend section devoted a whole page article to the advent of bingo that featured our first night. The journalist was so impressed he wrote: ‘’All of their attendants, in contrast to the players, were dressed in evening clothes and looked very professional, Vegas in the suburbs.’’ Our professionalism also earned the praise of the Bingo and Raffles Board which described us as the best in the state and held us up as a model for others. Our resourcefulness was about to be tested. In the La Trobe Valley 1500 power station maintenance workers began a strike that soon hit the whole state with power shortages, that led to factory shut-downs, food shortages and restrictions to entertainment venues. The team hired generators that were never powerful enough to light the premises but with a bit of imagination and some sleight of hand they kept the town hall lights on and the bingo going.

Unfortunately our success did not go un-noticed by an envious mayor who saw the financial potential of Bingo for his own Lions Club and he convinced the council not to extend our lease. Caulfield, for the six months we had the venue, had given us a perfect start but the game’s continuation, first at Malvern Town Hall and later at the Bush Inn on Orrong Road lost its impact and after two years the bingo team called it a day. They sold the electric scoreboard for $3200, a handsome profit, allowing the Club to bank $25,964 from its venture into the great bingo game. That money, along with $1800 generously donated by the women’s auxiliary led by Mary Kersey, later Mary Gyles, and $35,000 from the 1978 sale of Harlequin Park gave the hunt for a new home a fabulous boost. Gyles later wrote:

While many hundreds of hours went into this project it could not have been accomplished without the help of many other club members. Undoubtedly the highlight, most rewarding and satisfying effort I have got from the club. Without this money there would be no clubrooms of the stature we have today. A testament to the working of a good small and dedicated sub committees.

After the club abandoned Harlequin Park in 1977 the firsts and seconds joined the juniors at Columbia Reserves. With their co-tenants, the Brandon Park Cricket Club the Quins approached Waverley Council for a second pitch for the 1978 winter while the committee looked for ideas to centralise all of the club’s activities. It looked at every possibility but at that time its sights were set on new clubrooms rather than a new ground. Could they purchase something suitable, a house perhaps or even build somewhere?

The following year the quest was put on a formal basis with the formation of a four-man committee headed by the club president Dick Carter supported by Stan Gyles, former president Keith Jones and Stan Shaw. Through the searching years this committee would remain little changed. Richard d’Acre, a keen parent and a veterans’ player joined as a representative of the junior club. Jim Reynolds, Mark Allan, Mike Dundee.
The committee spent much of 1978 gradually sifting through the problems and pursuing all leads as they developed. They examined aerial views of the southern suburbs looking for large green spaces that might make rugby grounds but finished up with no more than an appeal for suggestions. “If club members know of suitable areas or premises, your committee is keen to hear of it,’’ they wrote in the annual report.

During the 1979 golden jubilee year the Harlequin club reappraised its objectives and decided it should have new clubrooms conveniently located on a ground controlled by the club. Some members said this was unrealistic but the committee told the club there was a reasonable chance of achieving this goal and they should not take the easy way out.

They contacted 20 councils and the public utilities, VicRail, the Melbourne and Metropolitan Board of Works and the Country Roads board to see if any had excess land. In their hearts, however, they still considered Glen Iris Park the ideal choice.

The first tentative approach to Malvern City Council was positive and negotiations began in earnest. The Club’s own architect, Ray White drew up plans for a staged development to fit in with whatever freeway plan might eventually be adopted and Colin Rowlinson, a quantity surveyor, costed the project. It envisaged a new look Glen Iris Park with the Gardiners Creek branch drain barreled and filled over to accommodate two pitches laid end to end between the main creek and the projected new road.

Adjacent to the change rooms there would be a new clubhouse with facilities for two teams and referees and a first aid room. The clubhouse would have a large room opening to a verandah, bar, store, mothers/committee room and kitchen/kiosk. It included a possible development between the clubhouse and change rooms that could house a gymnasium, squash court and sauna. A formal proposal, submitted in January 1982 sought a long-term lease. The submission told the council of the Harlequin club’s history, its growing membership of 350, its on-field achievements, its five state representatives and its former Wallabies. It emphasized the intensive coaching of juniors and it explained why the ground in its current condition was unsuitable for first class rugby and inadequate for its social needs. “As the Country Roads Board has recommended against constructing the freeway in a tunnel and, we believe, is anxious to proceed as soon as possible above ground the club believes that it is now time to establish a construction programme for the redevelopment of the Glen Iris Park area in a way which will solve the problems facing the Club.’’ It said the club was prepared to finance a $260,000 clubhouse if the council would spend $200,000 on the two playing fields, a new car park and a new change room.

The Harlequins began another season at Columbia reserve while the council deliberated. After several months the proposal was rejected. Malvern said it could not afford the outlay and it was against council policy to lease its land to special interest groups and contrary to the interests of the general public. It added that continued uncertainty over freeway route had been a major factor in the decision. In September the club tried a further proposal that attempted to minimize the difficulties. It offered to renovate the existing change rooms if the council would replace the showers and lavatories, upgrade the playing area and ‘’in due course’’ extend the playing area by filling in and reclaiming the ground over the drain. The club would build a more modest club room, easily moved if it became necessary to evict. It would cost each party about $50,000. The committee had by that time obtained quotes of $25.700 and $38,840 from two kit builders for two service modules each 10.8 metres by 3.8 metres to be fitted out on Glen Iris Park. Each could be easily taken down and rebuilt elsewhere should we have to. Dick Carter’s letter showed how desperate the club was becoming but it also managed to convey to the council without rancor an unpalatable truth about its own abrogation of responsibilities. He described the condition of the showers and toilets as unsanitary and inadequate for the large numbers of the public using the park amenities at weekends and other times. “Provision of the replacement facilities by council, as proposed by us, would remedy the current problem,’’ he said. The reaction was swift. Malvern Council’s advisory committee approved the plan within a month and forwarded it to the capital expenditure committee but it warned the club that funds were limited. It gave the Quins hope but there was still a long way to go. Malvern council was by this time preoccupied with plans for a new road cutting through its territory and while our plan for Glen Iris Park ground its way through committees and bureaucracy events overtook it. The Harlequins had put another iron in the fire.

Through diligent research the committee discovered that the Waverley football club, that city’s flagship VFA team based at Central Reserve, was losing support and had fallen into debt. It owed its landlord, the City of Waverley, nearly $5000 and showed no signs that it could meet demands to catch up on arrears. Furthermore the council was tightening its purse strings by pressing the football club to remove the advertising around the perimeter of the oval left there since the days long gone when their VFA matches had been televised. Plans for a new social club were being developed that would link the football club with local athletic, cricket and tennis clubs to present a $560,000 redevelopment project. It was looking at a 25-year loan that would cost more than $75,000 a year to service from its club receipts. The plans showed a two level building with dining room, function room, tavern bar, billiards room, gymnasium and squash courts with underground car parking, A bit of local intelligence suggested that some councilors were protecting the football club and the council was anxious that word of the arrears should not leak out to the city’s ratepayers. It gave the Harlequins a tactical lever. The committee let the council know that we were aware of the problem by applying to take over at Central Reserve. Our first letter to Waverley on February 7 1983 said: “It has been suggested to us by some of our members that council may be reviewing the allocation of the main playing field, grandstand and club room facilities at Central Reserve. If this is so, then we believe that that ground would be excellent for our purposes, and we would be grateful for the opportunity to make a proposal for tenancy of that reserve.’’  The letter laid emphasis on the assistance Waverley Council had given the junior club to establish itself at Columbia Reserve and on the senior’s tenancy there since 1975. It offered to co-operate with other clubs using Central Reserve to ensure a proper usage of the council’s investment in the area. And it dangled the carrot. ‘’I would like to point out that the club is in a strong financial position and has cash reserves of about $100,000 which we are prepared to direct to the development of club rooms if a suitable location can be found and adequate arrangements can be made for a secure tenure.’’

There was no reply and during April the premises committee created an impressive 12-page submission that it sent to every member of the Waverley Council at home to make sure that it was not delayed or diverted by the town hall bureaucracy. This submission set out the Harlequins’ case in detail, telling Waverley Council everything it wanted to know about the Harlequin Club, its ambitions and its financial affairs. It said the club had $92,000 invested in Australian Saving Bonds and from the interest it would pay $10,000 a year rental half yearly in advance provided it was given suitable security of tenure.

There was no reply and during April the premises committee created an impressive 12-page submission that it sent directly to the homes of every member of the Waverley Council to make sure that it was not delayed or diverted by the bureaucracy. The submission set out the Harlequins’ case in detail, telling Waverley Council about the Harlequin Club, its ambitions and its financial affairs. It said the club had $92,000 invested in Australian Savings Bonds and from the interest it would pay $10,000 a year rental half year in advance provided it was given suitable security of tenure. It showed the club’s willingness to co-operate with others.  “Our proposal is also dependent upon our club being given responsibility, care and control of social club facilities to be established at the reserve, which we would ensure would cater for all user groups of the ground facilities and which would be widened to encompass local social and service clubs such as Lions Club and Rotary Club. We envisage that dining room facilities would be made available to all users of the complex.’’ Another passage of the submission spoke of the intensive training of juniors that had nurtured one young Harlequin who had played with the Australian under 17s team for the previous two years. “The club is conscious that to remain as the leading rugby union club in Victoria it must constantly promote and encourage junior participation in sport. The Harlequin Club is preparing itself to take on the new challenges of the 80s on and off the field. We believe that by utilising the facilities at Central Reserve our aims and objectives can be met.’’

It was a diplomatic approach and it received an equally diplomatic reply. The council would be pleased to arrange a meeting but first it wanted the officers to report on the implications of the future development of rugby within the city of Waverley. They wanted to prepare a policy report that would require the club’s input. Central Reserve, however, was not on the table.  Instead the council would consider our letter  “in the context of it being a proposal for specific facilities but not in a specific location.’’

We, in turn, apologized by letter for our presumptuousness and a meeting was arranged. On May 17 Carter, Gyles, Dundee, and D’Acre met with Councilor Don McIntosh, the Waverley recreation officer and the parks superintendent. McIntosh who turned out to be a good friend of the club suggested we might take over the near derelict Ashwood Reserve.  Stan Gyles later said: “It told us we had council on the run. At last an offer  - so long as we withdrew out interest in Central Park,’’ Carter and Gyles met secretly with McIntosh on site at the Ashwood ground. Gyles said it was in a terrible state but they could see it had potential. They told the council representatives; “Well, yes, maybe it might suit’’. They said the area needed a car park, provision for a two-storey clubroom and, most importantly, three playing pitches. A lot of work would be required but if this was promised they would lay off Central Park. McIntosh said he “would see what he could do”. 

The council’s finance, health and services committee met on May 24 and a row developed as councilors with a strong leaning towards Australian Rules argued against the proposal. The committee watered down an officers’ report recommending Ashwood Reserve and agreed in principle that the club could establish a headquarters within the city but with no specific mention of where. However, at the meeting of the full council of May 31 Councillor McIntosh went into bat for the club and the original recommendation was reinstated. The way was clear for detailed discussions. After six frustrating years The Harlequins Club had found itself a home.

The pace quickened over the next few months. There were new plans to draw and costings to be done. The council sought a mountain of new information from the club because it felt the need to complete a recreation policy that would justify the Harlequin’s presence in Waverley. How many social club members were we likely to have? What proportion of our players and members resided in Waverley? What were the likely upper limits of player and member numbers? Did we plan to play or train at night? What was the standard of our competition? What were the likely spectator numbers? What was the frequency of games? What alterations were needed to the surface, the shape of the playing fields and fencing? What were the likely hours and times of use of the social club and the estimated attendance? What vehicle access did we need and how many car parking spaces? It took us until November to gather our thoughts and complete the information required. The Club suggested a three stage development that would allow us to occupy two pitches and the existing pavilion the following season, progressively build social rooms and add training lights to the Number two pitch from 1984 then work on a third ground as soon as possible. It was originally envisaged that the club should occupy the northern end of the reserve bordering High Street where there were two hockey pitches and an old pavilion backing on to Gardiners Creek. Traffic would enter from Winbirra Parade with a paved car park between the two pitches and another along the creek beside the pavilion. Across an open drain that would need filling there was space to create a third pitch. The clubhouse would be built beside the pavilion overlooking the main pitch in the middle of the three.

Our hopes of occupying the reserve and playing there in 1984 proved hopelessly optimistic. Gyles, who had relinquished a two-year presidency and resumed as premises committee chairman, said later that he directed all his energy that year into the project. It required hours of negotiation with the council for the committee and our architect, Ray White. Everything slowed to a snail’s pace while Waverley completed and adopted its recreation policy. It was decided during this time that south western end of Ashwood Reserve near Warrigal Road was better suited to our needs. The entrance in Power Avenue would lead to a car park at the western end of the No 1 pitch and to clubrooms on the southern boundary across the playing field from Gardiners Creek. It allowed us to use another change room pavilion on the reserve outside what would be the No 2 ground.

It was not until May 1985 that Ray White was able to present sketch plans of the ground layout, showing the position of the new club house and an interior layout that was similar to the eventual design but with the bar and store-room sited beside the entrance where a large open fireplace now stands. The council once again consented in principal to the club building its headquarters opposite a new full-size rugby pitch. 

The major problem that year was the exact location of the clubhouse. It was originally positioned too close the boundary of local residents. It was agreed instead to build beneath the overhead power lines. It contravened SEC regulations but after a long round of negotiations it was agreed, that with excavation work, we could build inside the easement. The plans were revised several times until the club was able to lodge an agreed application for a building permit to the town planning authorities on October 15, 1985. Allowing six months for possible appeals the Harlequins expected to call tenders in time to begin building after July 1986. In the period up to this the council would lay out the pitches with drainage and a sprinkler system, cover and allow the playing surface to stabilize and grow. Work would also start on the car park. When the club met in November 1985 for its annual meeting the committee reported that the council had bought top quality soil and the playing surface would be of the highest possible standard. Club captain Charlie Grieve reported that he had seen the ground turned. “Honestly, I have seen it with my own eyes.’’

With more than a hint of excitement the 1985 annual report said the time had come to consider funding arrangements. The clubhouse special purposes and club premises funds had between them amassed $136,000 but it was clear this would not be enough.

 It was suggested a number of sub committees be formed to undertake specific tasks. The call then went out to all members: “If you want your clubrooms available on time then make yourself available to contribute.” The opening of a new season in April 1996 was also the beginning of 19 months of intense activity within the club to get the ground ready and the clubhouse built. The committee began meeting three times a month and with our architect Ray White they held several more meetings with the City of Waverley.  A new nine member sub-committee was formed and began their tasks. Stan Shaw took over fundraising; Jim Blackie, interior design; Andy Corp, bar installation; Roy Capener, cabinet making; David Bray, donor acquisition; Peter Bolton, memorabilia, Charlie Grieve, club liaison; Mark Allan, security and Mark Baxter, training lights. They reported to the premises chairman Stan Gyles.

The fundraising and donor acquisition teams went straight into action and scored an early coup that gave everyone high hopes for the future. Bond Brewing, in those pre stock market crash days was a growing force in the beverage industry and it donated $3000 cash, a double door refrigerator for the bar and offered its expertise on the building of the new bar and cool room. For good measure it threw in promotional items that the club raffled. In this clubroom we were assured of a bar that would be a great centerpiece, professionally equipped and fitted out and there would be none of the leaking barrels and beer sodden floors we had experienced at Harlequin Park.

The Harlequin Knights plan was devised so members who, through business or social contacts were able to raise large donations in cash or kind from outside the club, would be especially recognized with a title and life-long membership. There were weekly raffles as well as a major prize raffle that raised $4000. We received an anonymous  $1000 donation while the social graders donated $150 apiece for engraved bricks to be displayed beside the new clubhouse fireplace. As well, club members guaranteed borrowings from the ANZ Bank to the level of $99,000.The estimated cost of the project stood at $260,000 and through these efforts the club ended the 1986 financial year with $165,000. With further promises they were still $80,000 short of the target.

If there was ever a red letter day in the recent history of the Harlequin Rugby Club then it must have been Thursday August 28.  That evening 83 club members gathered at the Riverside Hotel for a special extraordinary meeting that unanimously approved a series of motions indicating full support for the Ashwood project and releasing funds. 

Twelve days later on Tuesday September 9 the Waverley Council met and passed its own unanimous resolution; "Council approve the working drawing of the proposed clubrooms for the Harlequin Rugby Club at Ashwood reserve and that the club be advised that they may call tenders for the project and proceed with its construction.’’ Then on October 21 the council passed yet another historic resolution:  ''That council notes that the tender received by the Harlequin Rugby Club of $199,000 submitted by Noble Constructions, and allows access to and site establishment on Ashwood Reserve for construction purposes in accordance with the previously approved drawings”. Three historic decisions ended a search that had begun as a dream in February 1977.

The Harlequin Club took possession of the Ashwood Reserve site on November 3 1986. It took three days to establish the site, excavate, lay drains and prepare for the slab. On November 14 construction began with completion of the building set for the following June.

At the annual meting that December there was an air of well-being and anticipation. It was surely the dawning of a new era. The dream was turning into a reality but the membership was told much more work and more fund raising lay ahead of them.

Mike Plumbridge said in his President’s report:

The club is indebted to the team that brought this project to construction stage. Schemes of this magnitude in conjunction with civic organisations require intense patience, tolerance, care and dedication to bring to fruition. The team headed by Stan Gyles has done just that. Particularly. too we congratulate our architect Ray White and engineer Mark Allen. The building is under way and we all have a chance from now to physically as well as financially help the project along.

The New Year was always going to be busy but few could guess how busy. The task was daunting, far more than just the erection of a brick building. It would have to be fitted out and decorated and secured from vandals. Materials for the interior design would have to be selected and approved, furniture and furnishings acquired and stored. Memorabilia would have to be gathered, organised and prepared for display. There were retaining walls that would need building and landscaping and there was an urgent need for training lights, not to mention more money. The club would need volunteers who could provide skills and muscle. Meanwhile there was a season of rugby to be played. And there was a deadline. The Harlequin Club committed itself to have the whole project completed in time to hold the annual dinner in its new headquarters on November 13, exactly one year from the start of construction. The sub committee members had their tasks to bring in on time and the premises committee had to see that all the pieces fitted together. Gyles was a tough taskmaster and while nobody dreamed that it would come together without dramas none could anticipate how many crises would beset them.

By February difficulties on several fronts were beginning to surface. Mark Baxter was wrestling with a problem over the training lights for the second pitch. A quote for $16,300 meant the club would have to tailor its ambitions. They would have just two 15-meter light poles at a cost of  $8580 and put plans for two additional lights on hold.

Through a communication breakdown between the council and the contractor the soil from the excavation had been dumped on the hockey pitch instead of on the second pitch. The council did not have the money to rectify it so the second pitch for one season at least would not be long enough for senior rugby. The quote for a crib-lock system retaining wall around a power pole beside the clubhouse was too high and it was clear that the retaining wall at the back of the building using railway sleepers and bolts would be a bigger task than first imagined. The building contract stipulated how these jobs had to be dovetailed into the contractor’s timetable. It was soon obvious the sleeper wall would require many working bees involving every able-bodied club member. Security too was not going as smoothly as it should. The sub committee was not happy with the first proposals for a grille style system and sought to look at alternatives using roller doors or shutters. The professional fees for architectural services were blowing out to more than $22,000 despite donations given by the professionals in the form of remissions of fees and other assurances by providers that fees would be kept to a minimum.

The committee was also growing anxious over the building program and delays in getting the slab laid. Then the project was hit by a real tragedy.  A sub contractor was electrocuted when a steel pile he was lifting into place touched a live power cable overhead that should have been turned off. It held up the project for seven weeks while the Department of Labor and Industry and the State Electricity Commission conducted investigations and the building union on site imposed a black ban against the contractor in support of compensation for the dead man’s family. Then a dispute involving the entire building industry cut across a resolution of the situation, creating further delays and forcing the club to reschedule the entire job.

When the committee met in early April 1987 the project was at a standstill but the new rugby season opened with the Harlequins playing their first games on their own pitch in their new ground. Nature, at least, had been kind that autumn and the grass thickened putting to rest concerns that it would be too early and play would damage the council’s good work. Our players said it was like playing on a golf course. During the April meeting the committee took what was possibly one of its most important decisions. Andy Corp, mindful of the many problems that had beset him as ground manager at Harlequin Park all those years before, tabled a well-researched report urging as paramount the installation of a cool room in the bar area. It would serve as an all-purpose food and drinks store room but he considered it was vital for the protection of barreled beer. If the club wanted its beer to be as good as pub beer and not become degraded and stale it was vital to keep it stored at between seven and 10 degrees Celsius.

“Ask yourself how many barrel functions have you been to where the beer was below quality? How many people think they know all about it, but cannot make it pour right? Cellar keeping is an art, a science, if you like. Outlets are judged by their quality,’’ his report concluded. There was no argument. His recommendations were adopted unanimously. They would build a cool room and members, where possible, would go on courses run by the breweries. Schweppes, the drink manufacturer had donated $5000 plus 3 post-mix soft drink dispensers for the bar and kiosk. Cellar equipment, a glass washer and a sophisticated refrigeration system were put on order. But once again it would not be all plain sailing. Bond Brewing, who had done much to help establish the bar project, was heading into difficulties and withdrew from sponsoring ventures such as ours.  We could turn only to Carlton and United Breweries for technical and possible financial assistance. There would also be further difficulties over licensing that would impact on how the bar was supplied until the club struck a deal with the Matthew Flinders Hotel.

Interior design and decoration, at least, appeared to be coming along well. Jim Blackie’s recommendations for a color scheme, predominantly of rose ash to match the charcoal and autumn red brickwork, was readily accepted. He had presented a report meticulous in detail and tailored to a $5000 budget.  He had paid particular attention to the design and construction of the bar and its security shutters. A frame of square section steel supporting the actual bar, an overhead gantry suspended from stramit beams, a plain bulkhead with the honor boards over the gantry; a small bar as professional as any you would find anywhere; a bar that 15 years on has stood the test of time.

Meanwhile Peter Bolton, former first grade forward and the Harlequin’s most capped state player, and his father Ron, the club’s original historian, put together an inventory of memorabilia; hand painted presentation plaques, honor boards, photographs, international jerseys, ties and many other bits and pieces. They snared the ‘Grand Slam’ jersey that had belonged to Wallabies skipper Mick Farr-Jones and initiated a hunt for premiership photos between 1981 and 1986. The pair began working on a plan to show how and where everything would be displayed while also working with Roy Capener on the design, size and location of display cabinets.

Towards the end of April the building workers lifted their bans and the job was once again underway and the steel superstructure began to take shape. Work also started on the training lights now that the SEC had given its approval to the siting of poles. 

By May a clubhouse bulletin was distributed to the members. It was as much a call to arms from Stan Gyles as a comprehensive report on progress so far. It carried an amazing, seemingly endless list of materials, furnishings, equipment, cutlery, crockery and other bits and pieces that were needed. It put out a call for specialized labor in the form of tilers, carpenters, plumbers electricians, painters, builders and sign writers and asked who was going to volunteer their services or the services of their employees. It told members there were 300 railway sleepers that would have to be put in place and bolted together. There was landscaping to be done, internal and external painting, tiling, carpet laying, joinery, plumbing and many more fitting and fixing jobs for all.  It showed also a funding shortfall of $112,000 and with only $80,000 promised there was a $32,000 hole in the budget.  “It is essential that the construction of your clubrooms becomes part of your daily involvement with the club and a responsibility of being a member,’’ the bulletin said. In June, three working bees later the retaining wall was progressing but the club was 180 sleepers short and finding it impossible to source them. It obtained its original supply at $1.50 each but it was now looking at paying more commercial rates of $6.75 a sleeper. With bolts, fill and screenings the club was looking at an additional cost of  $2000. It would need one big effort to get the retaining walls finished so the call went out to each sector of the club to turn up at a series of morning and afternoon working bees on the weekend of July 18 and 19.

Security was also proving difficult and costly. Without screens there would be no insurance and it would be unsafe to install expensive bar and refrigeration equipment without either. The quotes from five different security screen systems of varying quality ranged from $8000 to $14,000. Either the project would have to be delayed or the club faced a serious budget over-run. The committee ruled that this had to be the No 1 priority and asked everyone for ideas.

The contractor was working to schedule. The brickwork was completed. The roof was on, fascias, skylights, windows and internal doors were all fitted and the framework for the bar was in place by mid August. The time had arrived to begin the fit-out and once again club members were called in to do their bit, this time as painters, joiners, door hangers, cleaners and general dogs’ bodies. The committee had meticulously planned out every detail. There was a checklist with 65 items on it and most of them had to be carried out by volunteer labor. The electricity was on so it was possible to work at night as well as weekends, as many did during the following weeks. The bar was brought in from Jim Blackie’s factory and fitted on to its sturdy frame. Roy Capener brought in a collection of cabinets, kitchen units and shelves, some new, some refurbished for the kiosk as well as a vanity for the ladies toilet.

Everything appeared set for the builder to complete his job on August 28 but security still remained the greatest bugbear. The committee had settled on roller doors but the first contractor they employed returned the deposit saying he could not do the job. The urgency of the situation forced the club to meet the second best quote at $10,200 and to get the order placed and executed as quickly as possible.  But he too walked away from the job and the price escalated to $12,000.

Cash flow was getting ever tighter so Gyles adopted Jim Blackie’s proposal to sell 125 bricks to members at $100 apiece. Each would be marked with an engraved bronze plaque the size of a matchbox and mounted at eye level around the fireplace. After the engraving cost this would raise $11,750. Four members with links to specific sections of the clubs were delegated to sell the bricks to the membership. A revised budget in September showed that the likely cost of completion at $75,970, an increase of $12,760 on the previous budget in December 1986. However the brick scheme was working well with $5000 already promised.

Peter Bolton had completed a detailed report on the memorabilia displays and honor boards at a cost of $3620. Ever resourceful he had also put together his own fund raising project, a wine bottling that would bring in $4000 and a casino night that he said could raise another $3000 to $4000. He proposed to divide the excess between the building fund, further expenses on memorabilia, the purchase of TV and video equipment and the cost of putting players on the field. He was ready to start decorating the clubroom as soon as he could occupy it.

The response to Bray’s long list of items needed to furnish the place had been disappointing so club secretary Tony James and Roy Capener headed off to an auction and put up their hands for $1200 worth of tables, trestles, beer glasses and trays. But there remained a big need for more tables, chairs and other items if the club was to avoid large scale hiring at the November dinner. August 28 rolled around and the builder brought the job to completion on time. For the members it was yet another signal that the clock was ticking and they would have to lift their pace. Volunteers continued to turn up for working bees as painters, cabinetmakers and laborers. After finishing the retaining walls the club muscle went to work on the terraces and interior painting. The Waverley council quibbled over the use of second hand sleepers on the retaining walls and insisted that the club demonstrate its safety before occupation of the pavilion. It was a time for diplomacy but the outcome was good for the Harlequins. The council set aside $6000 to finish off all landscaping, drainage and finishings around the clubroom including a handrail. It promised to fence the car park with pine logs and make good the approach way between car park and clubroom. It also agreed to a further $5000 to extend the No 2 pitch to full size the following autumn.

By October all was set for the big push to complete the job. The troublesome security screens were set in place, an internal security system was installed and work began on the final installations in the bar, the cool room, the kiosk. The floors and walls around the wet areas were tiled, the carpets were laid and the landscaping was finished.

Finally on Wednesday November 11 1987 the club was ready to present its work to Waverley’s health, building and engineering representatives. Apart from a few minor jobs that were easily and quickly fixed the project passed with flying colours.

Two evenings later, on Friday November 13, as the sun set over the wetlands and bird sanctuary that was once Glen Iris Park, more than 120 Harlequins arrived at Ashwood Reserve for the annual dinner at the Don Strang Pavilion, so named in memory of a long standing Harlequin. Don Strang had been a life member and a successful businessman in the stevedoring industry and his children offered a five-figure donation to establish a memorial. It enabled the committee to open the premises clear of all debt. It was indeed a big night for the Harlequin Rugby Club.

Later that month in the 1987 annual report Stan Gyles wrote:

An integral part of the club's future, on and off the field, is now in place. A new era begins.

He paid tribute to the premises committee and the sub committee who had addressed many complex and arduous tasks and all those members who had devoted their time, services, labour and skills to ensure the finished job was of such high quality.

No one did more than any other. All contributed equally.

They had worked at night and weekends during annual leave, some even taking holidays to complete tasks on time. He concluded:

Our clubrooms are no longer a dream. They are in place for all to use. When we gather as Harlequins let’s all foster the club spirit and camaraderie that is built up on and off the field. These clubrooms must be the nexus from which all aspirations are born and put into practice. Let’s also remember that in the Harlequin Club the main purpose is the playing and winning of rugby union football. Gentlemen, I give you - the Harlequins.