THE future of Country Week in Swan Hill is as bright as ever, according to Swan Hill Lawn Tennis & Croquet Club life members Trevor Holt and John Brookshaw, with a changing demographic one of the highlights of last week’s event.
With more than 1300 players, across 222 teams descending on Swan Hill for six days, this year’s Tennis Victoria Country Week tournament was hailed a “raging success” by both organisers and participants, with the economic boom for Swan Hill a major byproduct of the event.
But it’s the changing face of Country Week that has the SHLTCC most excited to host the event in future years, with Brookshaw telling The Guardian last week that the tournament is “regenerating.”
“I feel as though it’s a younger demographic that’s coming through and playing now,” Brookshaw said.
“It used to be 45 to 65 year olds playing, but now there are a lot more 25 to 45 years olds playing and they are the biggest group coming through.
“The event nearly folded after 2018 because we weren’t making enough money as a club.
“We worked out that we were making just 30 cents per hour, per volunteer.
“We were making twice what we made from hosting Country Week by hosting a Pro Tour event or at our easter tournament and Country Week was the one that stood out where we weren’t making much money.
“The council now helps cover the cost of the hosting fee and that’s pushed our clubs profit margin up to be with the other tournaments.
“The council have been excellent, and I think since 2018 they’ve been more proactive and entrepreneurial, they’ve worked out that roads, rates and rubbish isn’t their only business, they’re other business is to bring events into town and bring money from outside our community into town.”
Holt, who was one of the original Tennis Victoria Country Week Legends inductees, agreed with Brookshaw, with several Swan Hill businesses benefitting from the increased trade.
“Monday night (last week) at the Swan Hill Club it was one in, one out, as they couldn’t fit anymore people in,” Holt said.
“Those sort of things only happened 10 years ago when we used to put on an event and now it’s returning to those days where the players are starting to support those events and go where the crowd goes.
“When the event started to age, everyone went out for dinner at the different venues and they’re still doing that to a degree, but that’s also good because everyone gets a lick of the lolly.
“We originally chased the event because it was in February, and February is historically the quietest month retail wise for the year here, so to bring a big event to Swan Hill in February seemed like a great fit.
“We helped grow the event into what it is today and it’s probably only now that the Swan Hill community understands and appreciates what it does bring to town in terms of money.
“From a club perspective, it’s one of our biggest fundraisers and we wouldn’t have the facilities today if we didn’t have Country Week for all those years, because that’s what this facility was built on, the proceeds of country week.”
Holt was one of the key figures of bringing Country Week to Swan Hill, with the tennis veteran one of the original delegation that sought to bring the tournament to town over 35 years ago.
After being rebuffed with their first attempt, Holt and the delegation continued to lobby until they were successful in being granted hosting rights for the 1991, 1992 and 1993 tournaments.
“They had a vote that first year which was pretty antiquated, in that they asked all those who wanted the event to stay in Albury to go stand over by the bar and all those who wanted it to go to Swan Hill to go stand by the door – so we had no chance of winning that vote,” Holt laughed.
“It took us two years to get the event and we’ve had a lion’s share of it ever since.
“We hear from players that they love it here and why don’t we host it every year, but the club can’t do it every year as much as we’d like to because of the stress on our volunteers, it’s also a lot of work and it would be too hard to do it every year.
“The positive for us is that by having a rotation, every other year is compared to when it’s here in Swan Hill, so when it goes to Shepparton next year, the direct comparison will be with how it was last year.
“For us, having everything all in one location, with one club running it and one message, it runs so much smoother.
“Over there, it’ll be hosted at Shepparton and Mooroopna because they don’t have enough courts to host it at one location.
“When we run an event of an evening, everything is within walking distance from most of the motels, from the restaurants to wherever the event is.
“We have a lot of advantages that a small community brings, in a larger town it can get lost, especially with Country Week because it’s a good times event, everyone is here for a good time.”
