After three years, Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce officially opened the NEGS Regional Sporting Complex on Thursday, 22 April 2021. This new $3.7 million multi-purpose facility will benefit the students and the entire New England community. The Sporting Complex, funded through philanthropic donations to the School, is among the best multi-sport venues in the region, providing NEGS’ athletes with a state-of-the-art facility for daily training and competition.

The Complex features a synthetic hockey field, built to Federation of International Hockey (FIH) Standards, seven netball courts, five tennis courts resurfaced with artificial turf, plus a rugby field. It marks the most ambitious infrastructure project at NEGS. However, the complex also defines NEGS as a regional school with facilities that surpass many large metropolitan schools and with programs supported by NSW Rugby, Hockey NSW, Netball NSW and the UNE Lions. The Armidale community has also benefited hugely from the NEGS Regional Sporting Complex, as it is available for external training, sporting camps and competition. For example, early this year, Mark Knowles, Olympic Gold Medallist and former Captain of Australian Hockey Kookaburras, and Caitlyn Nevins, from the Australian Diamonds hosted hockey and netball clinics. NEGS was also a joint host of the Under 15s State Hockey Championship Carnival.

We are indebted to Old Girl Jeannie Ross Fraser, whose initial bequest dared NEGS to conceive, design, and build such a long-lasting and beneficial project. We are grateful for the generosity of benefactors Annette and John Cassidy, for their contribution to this project. As well as the generosity of Sally (nee McLaughlin ‘74) and John Grimble, the Armidale and Queensland Branches of the NEGS Alumni who funded the Goalposts and Electronic Scoreboard. The completion of the Sporting Complex has come at the end of a particularly tough time for Regional NSW, following drought, fires, floods and COVID-19, making the realisation of this project even more special.