Ballarat's junior footy clubs want better ovals

By Fiona Henderson
Updated November 2 2012 - 5:24pm, first published August 9 2011 - 2:56pm
MUD BATH: Junior footballers Declan and Tadhg Waddington on the muddy Western Oval. Picture: Jeremy Bannister
MUD BATH: Junior footballers Declan and Tadhg Waddington on the muddy Western Oval. Picture: Jeremy Bannister

BALLARAT’S 1600 junior footballers are playing at sub-standard facilities, according to some clubs.Lake Wendouree, North Ballarat City and Sebastopol all said yesterday their junior amenities needed major upgrades.Ballarat City Council’s growth and development director Eric Braslis said the council was aware of their ground issues.“We intend to undertake further work on shelter, access and traffic management as part of our long-term facility development plans,” Mr Braslis said. “Council would be very interested in developing financial partnerships with the clubs that use these grounds to allow this work to happen more quickly, and would welcome any discussions around these kind of arrangements.” Sebastopol junior co-ordinator Mick Hutt said they had to put up a temporary marquee at their number-two oval on weekends to give parents somewhere to shelter if it was raining.“You see a lot of money spent on other sports in Ballarat; soccer, baseball and other minority sports,” Mr Hutt said.“While it’s great for them, it doesn’t seem to balance out with the number of kids playing junior football.“We have 1600 juniors in Ballarat, and that’s without Auskick.”Mr Hutt said a request to Ballarat City Council to use the senior oval last weekend due to rain was denied because they wanted to preserve the main oval’s condition.“We have no undercover area. We have nowhere near the conditions of the senior oval.“We don’t have disabled toilets. We’ve only got two dirty, filthy toilets and this is a problem at most facilities.”Mr Hutt said $40 million being spent on the Civic Hall redevelopment also seemed a bit much when junior football clubs had to “scrape and save” for their facilities.“I’m sure there’s little things they could do to improve things for us, like providing a few shelters for $10,000 to $15,000.” Lake Wendouree joint junior co-ordinator Darrin Findlay said they have been forced to use the senior canteen, which faces the opposite direction and is 100 metres away from the junior oval, and their number two ground has no undercover viewing area.“While the state of the oval this year has been quite good, our facilities are below standard,” Mr Findlay said.He said if it was wet they were forced to take their juniors to indoor facilities such as Major League for training to ensure their oval surface remained adequate for game day.“We have to take them away as an alternative and that’s at a cost. We’ve just been fortunate we have played away on wet days.”North Ballarat City junior co-ordinator Peter Carey said facilities at their number two oval were also inadequate, with no undercover areas and poor drainage on their oval. “I think there should be more money spent on junior sport in general, not just junior footy,” Mr Carey said.

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