“Gut-wrenching”: Eagles snatch Dragons’ grant opportunity

THE City of Greater Geelong has opted to replace Hamlyn Park with Elderslie Reserve in its list of submissions to the Victorian government’s Regional Community Sports Infrastructure Fund.

Initially, the council had slated female-friendly changerooms at Hamlyn Park as one of five projects for grant application.

However, at the council meeting on Tuesday this week, a majority of councillors, led by Cr Peter Murrihy’s alternative recommendation, decided to withdraw it in favour of a new project at Elderslie Reserve.

“So, Hamlyn Park goes out and Elderslie Reserve goes in,” he said.

“I understand the optics of this, I know how it looks, it doesn’t look great.”

Mr Murrihy, who is a former Eagles coach, said the condition of the changerooms at Elderslie Reserve were appalling, in need of urgent attention and needed to be upgraded before money was spent on new facilities.

“It’s not about comparing the two clubs; I say we fix what we have first.”

Deputy mayor Anthony Aitken described the move as “gut-wrenching” and “extremely dangerous”.

“Officers have had an independent process, they have made an independent recommendation to Council.

“And what has actually happened is an individual councillor has moved a recommendation to increase the amount of funding by $550,000 dollars without an individual assessment…why that has occurred has not been justified.”

He said there were more than 300 females at the Bell Park Sport and Recreation Club and the club had no facilities at all for female football, netball, or cricket players.

“What is happening tonight is going to cause division in our community.”

“This will actually turn Bell Park against Newtown, and Newtown against Bell Park.”

He said it would be concerning to those worried about proper process and how the council made funding decisions.

On Wednesday afternoon, the Bell Park Sport and Recreation Club published an open letter on Facebook, responding to the council’s decision.

“Bell Park Sport and Recreation Club is deeply concerned about the lack of transparency and apparent unfairness in the council’s decision-making process,” the letter read.

“We will seek further dialogue to better understand the rationale behind their decision, ensuring that the needs of our female athletes and the broader community are adequately addressed.”

Geelong mayor Trent Sullivan said many clubs needed and deserved resource allocation.

He said council officers recommended the applications that had the best chance of securing state government funding.

Giving his reasons for not supporting Cr Murrihy’s motion, the mayor said it was not which club needed it more but which application was more likely to succeed – “It’s statistics, it’s maths.”