The Gazette

Issues mounting for Western Park tenants

By Keith Anderson

A possible merger of Warragul’s two Western Park based football/netball clubs should be up for discussion, according to the president of one of the clubs.

The issue has been bandied around for several decades as on field/court performances and off field financial standing of both clubs have fluctuated.

Warragul football netball club president Chris Blackwood told The Gazette at the weekend the current review of Gippsland football and netball league structures by the AFL Gippsland Commission was an opportune time for his club and Warragul Industrials football netball club to get together and seriously discuss their futures.

No formal approach has been made at this stage by the Warragul club, Blackwood said.

The winter co-tenants of Western Park play in different competitions - Warragul in the major Gippsland League, Industrials in the “district” level Ellinbank and district football league.

Historical issues that have hindered, and continue to hinder, a sensible discussion about a merger need to be cast aside.

The growing pressures on clubs brought on by regulatory actions by various levels of government, particularly health and safety (of players, spectators, umpires etc) as well as clubs needing to upgrade their facilities and standards of coaching to be competitive (therefore attracting the support to be viable) demand new approaches.

At Warragul there’s another compelling reason why the two clubs should get their heads together - the ongoing difficulties for both in sharing Western Park.

The situation in the not too distant future, as the AFL guides country clubs and leagues to be more professional and players from the youngest junior levels (and their parents) become more selective, will mean they’ll by-pass the Warragul clubs if there isn’t change for the better.

It wouldn’t be such a problem if the town had two senior competition standard ovals and associated facilities, but that isn’t the case and won’t be in the foreseeable future given Baw Baw shire council’s current priorities.

The training arrangements - the club that doesn’t play at Western Park on a particular week trains on a sub-standard area at the back of the Logan Park showgrounds - are major handicaps for both clubs.

(Baw Baw shire council has plans to develop a second training/junior standard oval on the western side of Tarwin St at some stage on land made available by developers of the Waterford Rise residential estate. Original plans for a second senior standard facility there have been downgraded).

The condition of Western Park oval also is put under considerable stress because, unlike other football grounds during winter, it is played on every week.

There’ll be those that argue that Chris Blackwood’s interest in merger talks are driven by Warragul FNC’s struggles in recent years to be competitive, or even field the full number of teams, in Gippsland League.

That suggestion might have some validity but is more than likely temporary. The major issues for the two football clubs are ongoing.

Late last year Warragul FNC seriously considered an approach by the then Casey-Cardinia league (now South-east league) to join it.

Seventy per cent of people at a general meeting of the club voted in favour of the move (75 per cent was required under the constitution for it to be successful).

Blackwood says that had the move to CaseyCardinia come off he believed Warragul Industrials would have been more amenable to a merger.

“We believe that if Warragul (the town) is to be represented as one it needs to be in the highest standard competition in the region”.

“Dusties won’t have a bar of Gippsland League and Casey-Cardinia was seen as a high standard alternative,” Blackwood said.

Warragul Industrials club appears to be travelling okay at the moment but it has had, like Warragul FNC is having now, its difficult times.

“Merger” is a word that has also passed lips at Dusties over the years despite some older stalwarts at the club being dead set against it for historical and personal reasons.

Others are opposed because they believe it would look like a WFNC takeover if the clubs merged and played in Gippsland League.

Blackwood argues that the present Western Park arrangement is hurting both clubs’ ability to recruit and retain players, is impacting fund-raising such as sponsorships and that both clubs eventually can’t survive if the status quo remains.

The second (training) oval in Tarwin St with lighting, drainage and properly constructed surface must be a priority.

That’s unless the two clubs can actually look to getting together to build a strong merged club to represent Warragul at a regional level.

With the AFL Gippsland review now well underway there won’t be a better time for a number of years for Warragul and Dusties to do some serious merger talking.

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2015-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

2015-06-23T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://wdgazette.pressreader.com/article/283553744286933

Warragul Regional Newspapers