Tamworth Regional Council will sponsor three major Golf NSW tournaments

The three tournaments include the 2024 NSW Senior Amateur Championship, the 2025 NSW Mid-Amateur Championship, and the 2026 NSW Men's Country Championship.

Tamworth Regional Council has signed on as a sponsor for all three events, and councillors expressed their excitement at the latest council meeting.

"It's great that Golf NSW is thinking about coming out to the regions. This was something they've changed post-pandemic to support regional areas ... we have such a diverse region full of a range of sporting pursuits and this is a very good one to have," Cr Brooke Southwell said.

"It further illustrates the amount of sporting activities we have here and the significant economic benefits, but apart from the economics of it it's just great to have people visiting our region," Cr Helen Tickle said.

But not every councillor was as enthusiastic about some of the sports sponsorships approved that evening.

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Cr Mark Rodda expressed disappointment at council's decision to deny a sponsorship request for an upcoming hockey tournament while approving tens of thousands of dollars in sponsorship deals for golf and equestrian sports.

He highlighted Hockey NSW's estimation that the tournament will put $1 million into Tamworth businesses, and said that figure is the tip of the iceberg as multiple hockey competitions draw visitors to town every year.

"Hockey does do a very good job in bringing economic value to Tamworth and that's why I thought it would've been nice to help out Hockey NSW," Cr Rodda said.

Mayor Russell Webb responded by saying the decision to support hockey with a fee waiver and other sports with a sponsorship is a matter of council policies.

"I hear what you're saying, but it's a lot easier to make a fee waiver to a sporting organisation when they're using council facilities," Cr Webb said.

Addressing the media the day after the meeting, Cr Webb said council does support hockey in the region through several other means, including fee waivers and upgrades to the "world-class" Tamworth Regional Hockey Complex.

"That facility is worth many millions of dollars, about $20 million. Council has contributed to that in a big way over time," he said.

Councillors Helen Tickle and Phil Betts also mentioned those contributions during the council meeting, with Cr Betts suggesting Hockey NSW could receive support from Tamworth in other forms going forward.

"There are so many organisations across our LGA looking for some sort of assistance. There's gotta be some mechanism that we get the entire community to be able to support events like this," Cr Betts said.

Cr Steve Mears said the important thing is for council to be transparent in the decision-making process.

"I've had a lot of phone calls this week about why one group gets money or another doesn't get money, and it's easy for us reading the papers and presentations to understand the reasoning, but it's ratepayers' money that we're spending so I get the concern from the general public," Cr Mears said.

"Perhaps we need to explain better what the policies are, other than for those people that are looking at them, as to why money goes to one group and not another."

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