KEVIN Burke is at great pains to point out that his football and netball club, South Mildura Bulldogs, will be relocating from Sarah Oval to Mildura’s new $44 million sporting precinct in 2022.
“We’ll be moving out there,” the president said. “I know there have been some rumours that we’re pulling the pin on that – and from the start I want to squash those rumours.”
In a sit-down interview with Sunraysia Daily, the top Dog reinforced just how “excited” the club’s players, officials and members were to be heading to new precinct.
“We’re working out the terms of our winter agreement (with Mildura Rural City Council) to move out there,” he said.
“There are some teething issues but the positives are going to outweigh the negatives, and we’re working our way through them with council.”
Mr Burke’s early diplomatic comments, however, changed course when Sunraysia Daily asked what the negatives were.
It soon became clear the club is frustrated that two basic elements have been left out of the plan: No car parking around the main oval, and the absence of permanent undercover seating around the ground.
MORE: Mildura Council says additional oval seating being “considered” for stage 2
“At this stage there is no provision to be able to park around the ground, like we see at all other country footy ovals,” Mr Burke said.
“That’s a sticking point for us and we’re pushing to get at least three-quarters of the ground to have car parking.”
Asked whether this should have been included in the original design by the Melbourne construction company, CICG, who won the tender to build the precinct, he said: “Yes, it should have been.
“Obviously, the design has been done by somebody in an office in Melbourne.
“I don’t know how much country football they’ve been to, but you always see cars parked around country footy grounds.
“We’re trying to work through it and we do bring it up every time we have a meeting with the council.”
Undercover seating push
Mr Burke said the club – which has been in talks with council for two years about the move – had also calling for permanent undercover seating around the oval.
“This is a big sticking point for us, which is really about keeping people out of the elements,” he said.
“At this stage the only undercover area is in front of the change rooms (but) we don’t want people congregating there because there’s obviously a safety issue for the players.”
He said that undercover permanent seating should be in place to also cater for cricket matches in the summer, as well as major events.
“My argument to council is that it’s not just us as a winter sport,” said Mr Burke, whose club has more than 350 registered footballers and netballers across senior and junior grades.
“If there’s no shelter at the new precinct all throughout the year and they expect to host Sheffield Shield cricket games and other big events through the hot summer months, my big concern is for the elderly and disabled.
“To (force them to) sit out in the hot sun or elements through winter is bordering on a lack of foresight … and it’s cruel.
“We have a meeting with council on July 5 to discuss the second stage in regards to seating and shelter. But we hope it’s not just a Band-Aid fix.”
Fundamental concerns
Sunraysia Daily also asked why these fundamentals of what makes up a country footy ground were still being ironed out so close to stage 1 of the precinct opening.
“That’s a good question. Why are we still talking about it and why haven’t people been listened to?” Mr Burke said.
“When we first put in an expression of interest to become the tenant a couple of years ago, we looked at all the plans and our club raised these concerns back then.
“It seems that the issues are continually raised and, whether it’s ignorance or arrogance that’s coming from the other side, they are not listening to people who actually run a sporting complex and understand what needs to happen.”
Raising the bar
There are two other key elements that have been left out of the $34.2 million first-stage plan: a scoreboard and external bar.
“There’s no external bar, but that’s something we knew right from the start,” Mr Burke said.
“It just means we have to find a mobile bar. A couple of other grounds already do this and our liquor licence will cover it.
“We’ll have our kiosk selling food, coffee and other stuff. If this is detrimental to the café (inside the stadium), then that’s not our problem.”
‘Listen to stakeholders’
Mr Burke was then asked what he would say to the council’s planners if they were sitting in front of him at the time.
“We’re not trying to get a benefit just for us. It’s benefit for the precinct as a whole,” the Bulldogs boss said.
“If you take the basketball situation and the (absence of permanent) indoor seating, it’s the same thing. If you want to attract big tournaments, you can only seat so many people with temporary seating.
“Was this a lack of foresight and listening from council? I can’t answer that, you can’t answer that and they probably don’t want to answer that.
“I don’t think the community wants to see that two years down the track we have to redevelop the outside of the precinct because mistakes were made in the first place.
“There is a lot of money being spent on this precinct. We need to get it right the first time.”
