In yesterday’s Age there was an article regarding St Kilda Football Club using the Ian Johnson Oval (our school’s oval) as the ground where the club would hold their training sessions. theage.au/afl/st-kilda-saints/saints-in-line-to-go-marching-back-to-junction-oval-after-afl-brokers-complex-deal-20140829-109xvs.html Recently I have had a number of meetings with the AFL and Parks Victoria in regards to options of use and development. The Age has included an aerial photograph with text bubbles of what they believe will happen. I was speaking with the AFL today and they have not passed on this information to Caroline Wilson, she has obtained a draft map from other sources and thus hasn’t acquired all the facts quite right. From the outset, I must say my conversations with the AFL have been preliminary and in no way has any formal sign off been put to us. The AFL have seen our school community as their most important stake holder and I have a good feeling that a beneficial outcome for both parties can be achieved. For clarification: 1. This is St Kilda PARK Primary School, not St Kilda Primary School. 2. Our Playground (at the rear of our school) will not be going anywhere, either will our Kitchen Garden. The AFL had no interest in the land at the back of our school, however with further discussion around improvements to the park, I requested the back park space (behind our playground) have turf and a set of goals (soccer/AFL Footy combined) so our students have a much better space to play on. This suggestion came about because our students currently aren’t allowed to kick through the oval goals as the ones on the south side are too close to the car park and the north end goals are out of our supervision boundaries we have set. Believe me, our students would love to have their own set of goals and a much improved grassed area to play on. Currently the back park is full of weeds and becomes quite patchy in summer. With a quarter of a million dollars to development this play space and with increased maintenance, I’m sure this will be a fantastic space for all park users. 3. The Old Melbournians Football Club pavilion is to be situated on the Lakeside Drive side of the Ian Johnson Oval near the Hockey Drive entrance, not where it is indicated on this map. 4. Now onto the Ian Johnson Oval. We are fortunate to have one of the best ‘school’ ovals in the state and we don’t have to pay for the upkeep. We really are the envy of all other schools. So when the AFL approached me about spending almost $3 million transforming our fabulous oval into a replica of Etihad Stadium (minus the roof) I said we were very happy with our current oval. However, the proposition of having an even better oval, better lighting, perfectly maintained, still without fences, advertising or any restriction to access other than when St Kilda is training, I listened closely and asked many questions. There would be a down side – restricted oval access for 10 – 15 hours a week when St Kilda were training. At all other times the oval would be ours under the usual conditions. Recess and lunchtimes would have our usual supervised access and during class time teachers would be taking students out for lessons. I currently put in a usage request to Parks Victoria for the likes of our sports days, Celebration of the Arts, School Fete, Fathers Footy training sessions etc… (this is so we don’t clash with the other park users). Many sports clubs, visiting international clubs and private personal trainers use our oval on a regular basis, both on the weekend and during the week. We even have Interschool Sports including girls and boys cricket and lacrosse during the year, where our oval is closed for the day and we use the back park. This would all continue as usual. Potentially this could be a great opportunity for our school and community. We must keep negotiating and putting forward our concerns and ideas to achieve the best possible outcome. I am not easily bought or persuaded, nor am I biased (Go Pies!). I know our children, many who barrack for St Kilda, will relish to opportunity to have their idols training on ‘their’ oval. Our dads may benefit from a training run with a skills coach. As a school, we could use the new Old Melbournians Football Club pavilion and the Junction Oval training facilities, including a pool and gymnasium. We will ensure our school is at the forefront of any decision and continue to have ample green space for our students that is safe and accessible.
Posted on: Sun, 31 Aug 2014 10:11:13 +0000
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