On the outer

By Sarah Schwager
CRANBOURNE Football Club has hit out at Casey Council, accusing it of relegating its ratepayer-funded Casey Fields to clubs from outside the municipality.
Cranbourne Football and Netball Club president Luke King said it was time Casey ratepayers knew where their money was going.
“For 30 years we have been promised upgrades to our training and playing facilities,” Mr King said.
“We have tried to work in with council and see if things were going to change.
“But we have literally been given nothing.”
He said the club’s home ground, EG Allen Reserve, was in a “disgraceful” condition, with recent attempts by council to spread dirt on the oval creating rabbit holes that made it even more dangerous for players.
“Here we have a premier sporting venue and none of the local clubs are allowed to be based there,” Mr King said.
The club plays its eight home games at Casey Fields but has no access to storage and must truck all its equipment and memorabilia to the venue and back each time it plays there, with committee members spending hours each morning and evening setting up and packing up.
The club is allowed just two nights training at the Cranbourne East sporting venue pre season and two nights in total during the football season.
This week the council announced both Berwick and Narre Warren football clubs would be training at Casey Fields until their grounds were safe to use.
“We have put so much time and money in to trying to improve our ground,” Mr King said.
“I can’t believe how much of the short end of the stick we consistently get.”
Casey Fields is the home ground for Casey Scorpions, known as the Springvale Scorpions Football Club until last year, and Casey South Melbourne Cricket Club, both of which compete in state-level competitions.
Casey deputy mayor Kevin Bradford suggested most, if not all of, the teams’ elite players lived outside Casey.
Mr King said the club welcomed the Scorpions and the South Melbourne Cricket Club to Cranbourne but only asked that local sporting bodies not be treated as less important.
He said the 100-year-old club was sick of being treated as the poor cousin to the newly arrived Scorpions.
“I think it is about time that the (Casey) CEO Mike Tyler recognised the importance of our club to our community and directed his staff to appreciate that fact and provide more substantial accommodation to Cranbourne’s number one sporting club,” Mr King said.
He urged Mr Tyler to attend one of the club’s games.
“He would then see how hard Cranbourne people work to provide quality entertainment and possibly then appreciate the importance of supporting local sporting groups as well as state-based teams,” Mr King said.
Cr Bradford said it was imperative a balance was established between looking after the premier clubs and Casey’s local clubs.
“It is concerning that some of the resolutions raised, in particular signage issues (for local clubs at Casey Fields), haven’t been addressed as quickly as we would have liked,” he said.
“We have a tremendous facility down there, probably the best in the area, but the local clubs are not getting looked after.”
Council’s arts and leisure manager Robyn Bowen said all local league clubs were prohibited from training on grounds before 1 April because of the drought.
“Cranbourne Football Club originally considered utilising ovals 2 and 3 at Casey Fields, but eventually decided to retain the current home at EG Allen Reserve as their training and administration base and to play their home games at the VFL oval,” she said.
“I have been advised that the oval at EG Allen Reserve is in a reasonable condition, and in fact in better condition than some ovals which will have matches played on them.”
Mr Tyler said he had not had any contact with the Cranbourne Football Club and Ms Bowen was the appropriate person to comment on the issue.