A MANSFIELD sports stadium was finally named in honour of champion Mt Buller snowboarder, Alex 'Chumpy' Pullin, after a long wait and two community engagement campaigns at both local and state government level over the past couple of years.
In what has been a bittersweet time for the family of Alex Pullin, who tragically died while spearfishing in the Gold Coast in July, 2020, the April 2024 announcement by the state Minister for Education, Ben Carroll, was welcomed.
The family was approached by Mansfield Shire Council in 2021 about naming the stadium after 'Chumpy'.
“Council said they would like to use his name and we were happy for that,” said Alex's father, Chris Pullin.
But Mansfield Shire Council didn't have the naming rights; the state Department of Education did.
After another long awaited engagement campaign, the final public vote was 67 per cent support for the stadium to be named after 'Chumpy' and the other four suggested names made up the remaining percentage, according to Chris Pullin.
“We feel so overwhelmingly supported in Chumpy’s honour by council and the community who were so unwavering," said Mr Pullin.
Now residing on the NSW coast, with Alex’s mother Sally, Mr Pullin, who ran a ski hire business in Mansfield, speaks fondly of the family’s time here and the ongoing relationships.
He hopes the new signage on the stadium will include Alex’s well known nickname – a name used by his parents when he was a toddler that stuck all through his life.
“Chumpy grew up in Mansfield with his little sister Emma, the two kids had a wonderful life,” said Mr Pullin.
There is a huge hole in the Pullin family with the loss of Chumpy who was described by his father as “my best friend”.
For this reason, Mr Pullin hopes the stadium will be much more than just a building with a name on it and represent the values and philosophy of his son which included supporting the development of young people to achieve what they want.
“He was the only kid from a public school who participated in race club practices on Mt Buller, unlike the other kids who stayed on the mountain,” he said.
The 12 year old Mansfield Secondary College student had to get up at 5am to get transport to the on-mountain practices.
“When waiting in the cold for practice to start, he never begrudged it,” said Mr Pullin.
Mr Pullin said he would love to see the Mansfield stadium forge links with the Chumpy Pullin Foundation, created to carry on Alex's legacy and his desire to support people in a meaningful way, and the family are looking forward to attending a naming ceremony of the stadium hopefully later this year.
Officially opened on February 25, 2022, the dual court stadium facility is shared between the shire and the secondary college.
It has two full size basketball courts which can also host netball, badminton and indoor soccer.
Construction of the stadium was a joint $6.94 million project between Mansfield Shire Council, Mansfield Secondary College, and the Victorian Department of Education.
The council contributed $0.97million and received $3.4million funding from the federal government’s Building Better Regions.
The Victorian Government contributed $2.57million.
“Council has advocated for the naming of the stadium to honour the memory of the most well-known winter athlete Mansfield has produced,” said Mayor Cr Steve Rabie.
“We are very pleased that the stadium has been named Alex Pullin Stadium to honour the late Olympic legend.
“Council would like to acknowledge the Pullin family at this time and will work with them to determine an appropriate acknowledgement of this honour."
