By Victoria Stone-Meadows
Some indoor sports teams in the City of Casey have been left out in the cold, after being given their marching orders from the Casey Indoor Sports Centre.
Indoor sports teams including AFL, soccer, tennis, beach volleyball and archery have not had their lease renewed at the centre, which is undergoing an $18.3 million renovation.
The Casey Indoor Leisure Centre – which will be re-named Casey Stadium when the renovations are complete – will be home to extra basketball and netball courts, cricket pitches and gymnastics rather than the many other sports that previously operated out of the building.
Group manager of active communities at Casey Council James Rouse said the two-part development of the centre would allow for different sports to be based there.
“Part one is the regional basketball and netball facility which is currently undergoing an $18.3 million extension and upgrade,” he said.
“Part two is the indoor sports component, which is about to undergo a redevelopment.”
“That will see it re-purposed as a regional gymnastics, indoor cricket (capable of hosting state and national tournaments) and multi-sport venue with capacity for volleyball, badminton, wheelchair sports and more.”
However, former sports co-ordinator at the centre Adrian Vella, who ran the indoor AFL, soccer and beach volleyball for eight years said it was made clear there was no room for these sports at the new centre.
“They have re-purposed the use of all the areas we used in the centre,” he said.
“If they are planning on offering these sports in the future no-one has told me anything; I rang council personally to see if they could help and they said they needed one of the footy courts to put in a basketball court.”
“When I rang they said the problem was they would have to re-do the lease and they didn’t want to do that, even short-term.”
Mr Vella said he and parents who had children involved in the indoor sports teams he ran were very upset when they got the news.
“I was shattered,” Mr Vella said.
“When we all were saying goodbye I broke down; it’s really had to deal with things like this when you love your job.”
Council confirmed they have entered into a partnership with Cricket Australia to bring state and national indoor cricket competitions to the region.
“Cricket Australia have not taken over management of the facility but will be an active partner in the programming of the indoor cricket component of the facility,” Mr Rouse said.
Mary Elliot has a daughter who attended indoor soccer at the centre and said many parents were not given any warning about the changes.
“Neither the parents, children or coaches were given any warning, with just over one week’s notice that all these sports would be finishing up to make way for basketball and netball,” she said.
“Basketball and netball already had over eight courts allocated at the centre, so now all the other sports clubs are scrambling to find a venue and time to continue.”
Ms Elliot said without support from council and with limited alternatives, some of the clubs may have to fold without a stable place to play.
“Cranbourne is already over-populated this is going to be a mammoth effort with several sports clubs unfortunately already discussing the idea of disbanding,” she said.
“There are no other venues, or venues that can be afforded for the sports or parents that are involved.”
Mr Vella has been in discussions with Cranbourne Indoor Sports, based not far from the Casey Indoor Sports centre to allow for his junior soccer team to continue.
The YMCA will be responsible for the management of the re-developed sports centre and the centre manager, Ian Jenkins, said YMCA planned to offer a variety of sports from the new centre.
“The City of Casey is undertaking the redevelopment of the centre and upon completion, the YMCA has committed to offer a range of sports and program,” he said.
“The centre will host a variety of sports including basketball, netball, indoor cricket and gymnastics and also cater for numerous sports-based programs.”
