IT has been a long time coming but a working scoreboard looks set to be back in place at Caltex Park as early as this weekend.
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One of the controls inside the scoreboard building at Dubbo's premier sporting facility was allegedly stolen last year, making it impossible to work the scores or clock.
But equipment for a new and more modern LED-style scoreboard was expected to arrive on Monday and installed by the end of the week.
"We've been planning it for some time but it should be delivered today and installed and completed by Friday," Dubbo City Council's Murray Wood said.
"I'm in the process of organising the clubs to do an induction on the new scoreboard possibly on Friday afternoon.
"It's the same footprint, we're not changing the building but we're putting an LED display in the old building and it will also have the capacity around the 10-metre squared display for advertising or messages."
Caltex Park is the home ground of local Group 11 sides CYMS and Macquarie and also the Dubbo Rhinos Graincorp Cup rugby union side and all clubs have been bombarded with questions about the situation all season.
The ground announcer for each club has been forced to keep a very keen eye on a stopwatch in the box or on the sideline while also having to continually answer players, coaches and fans asking about that state of the match.
Dubbo Rhinos president Ian Burns and Dubbo CYMS chairman Kevin Walkom both admitted it had been a frustrating wait but agreed the main thing was a scoreboard would at least now be back in place.
"Having a new scoreboard is fantastic it's just a shame we don't play any more matches at home," Burns said.
"It's a bit of a pity it's a bit late for us but I'm sure the league will get good use out of it the next few weeks and from what I'm hearing it should be really good."
Walkom said in each game he has attended this season the ground announcer had been forced to apologise to sets of fans from both clubs.
"Once it's up and running it will alleviate those frustrations and help game days run smoothly," he said.
"It's unfortunate we've gone most of the season without the services of the scoreboard and clock for the supporters."
Macquarie president Mark Meredith was unable to be reached for comment but his club look set to be the first to benefit with a home clash against the Narromine Jets scheduled for Sunday.
Members from each clubs are expected to be in attendance at the induction seminar with council on Friday and Walkom confessed he hoped the board would be a simplistic one so a number of people could take on the role in the box.
It has not only been footy fans who have been left angered by the lack of a scoreboard with Wood admitting it also caused council plenty of frustration.
"It's designed to be seen from 190 metres away and it was kind of fortuitous we couldn't replace the controller that was stolen because it was an old design so we could cover this with insurance and replace it," he said.
"There's been the automatic assumption we're not doing things right so it's been frustrating in that sense but we've been looking at it for quite some time and we always said we wanted it done by August 8.
"Insurance claims take time but if we'd rushed in for a quick fix it would have cost $20,000 of council money but with this it's only going to cost ratepayers $2000."