That campaigning paid off when a rodeo ring, that was previously used in Melbourne’s Rod Laver arena, was delivered to the showground last week.

Scott Hallam, vice-president of the Inverell Show Society said the arrival of the new ring will create a number of opportunities for the town and horse sports in general.

“This is going to benefit a lot of people as we will be able to host a lot more events now. It has been more than 20 years since Inverell has had a permanent ring, and people are really going to get a lot of use out of it.”

The ring was a joint purchase of the Inverell Pony Club and the Show Society, and will be used for a number of events, including the two booked rodeos Inverell already hosts; the Junior Rodeo in September and the rodeo held at the show each year.

As well as the two rodeos, the ring can be used for a number of popular horse sports, including team penning, cutting, barrel racing, rope and tie events, steer wrestling and team roping.

“A lot of these events are already very popular, and now we have the facilities in town, they will just get bigger and better,” said Inverell Pony Club President Ron Berkley.

“The ring can also be used for training schools and we have already had a lot of interest from people who would like to hold schools here, and we’ve only had it for a week,” Ron said.

In the past, in order to host a rodeo, a ring had to be hired and trucked in, with volunteers often taking two to three days to assemble the ring, and then one day to take it down again.

“Hiring and assembling a ring was such a cost, and it was a bit of a deterrent to host things here,” Scott said.

“Now we have this new ring that is always going to be here, the sports that use it will continue to grow and the whole town will benefit from the trickle down effect.

“We are one of the only towns around to have their own ring and it will bring a lot of visitors to town.”

The ring was used in Rod Laver Arena for international rodeo events, and was originally made in Tamworth. It is the highest quality available.

“The special thing about getting the ring here was the fact that so many committees worked together to get it here,” Ron said.

“No one person can claim all the credit and it is now an asset that everyone can use.”

The first event to be held at the new ring will be the Junior Rodeo held in September.