'Sporting Apartheid'

[Perth Red]

and I have never seen such a sports exclusive sign before either.

?

on our council owned golF courses they have signs saying no public access or ball games

on the small playing field near me it says no golf practice allowed, as a rate paying golfer should I be outraged?

 

[AlwaysGreen]

That sign has been up for 25 years, I laugh at the way the media are suddenly turning this into a story.

I don't think so Tim.

 

[Parra]

That sign has been up for 25 years, I laugh at the way the media are suddenly turning this into a story.

liar

 

[AlwaysGreen]

on our council owned golF courses they have signs saying no public access or ball games

on the small playing field near me it says no golf practice allowed, as a rate paying golfer should I be outraged?

No you should be committed for not differentiating between an obvious safety issue and a sporting bodies attempt to have exclusive access to public sporting fields.

 

[Sans Souci Sainter]

on our council owned golF courses they have signs saying no public access or ball games

on the small playing field near me it says no golf practice allowed, as a rate paying golfer should I be outraged?

Facetiousness.

 

[Parra]

on our council owned golF courses they have signs saying no public access or ball games

on the small playing field near me it says no golf practice allowed, as a rate paying golfer should I be outraged?

You don't understand the difference between a golf course and a footy field? That's why there are signs on the golf course - for idiots like you. Normal people don't need a sign to tell them not to play other ball sports on a golf course.

No-one is suggesting that the local aussie rules team should not be able to use the field to play & train. And when this is happening they have exclusive use. This is normal.

To exclude everyone else from using the grounds at any other time is not normal.

 

[Perth Red]

True but then it is probably not normal for a team/code to pay $100k for the improvement or maintinance of a field either. They are effectively paying a rent of sorts and as such have the right to use it for themselves. North Beach RLC rent 2 pitches and clubhouses from Stirling council. They don't have a sign but I am pretty sure if the local RU or AFL team decided to train on their pitches on the nights Nth Beach weren't using it they would have something to say!

Look I don't disagree that it is ridiculous and that they are showing an arrogance and disrespect to the community but geez we have much bigger things to be worried about imo! This isn't unique and there is plenty of other situations where other sports have sole use of a council owned facility they maybe just don't put up arrogant signs saying so!

 

[Parra]

True but then it is probably not normal for a team/code to pay $100k for the improvement or maintinance of a field either. Look I don't disagree that it is ridiculous and that they are showing an arrogance and disrespect to the community but geez we have much bigger things to be worried about imo! This isn't unique and there is plenty of other situations where other sports have sole use of a council owned facility they maybe just don't put up arrogant signs saying so!

The issue is not that the team or club paid. But that the professional body paid - not for improvement or maintenance, but for exclusive use. That is, to stop other kids from using the facility. That is what the fee is for.

That makes this commercial use of the land.

 

[Perth Red]

is that unusual for Sydney? Happens all the time in perth, all of the WARL clubs have such agreements with councils.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

True but then it is probably not normal for a team/code to pay $100k for the improvement or maintinance of a field either. They are effectively paying a rent of sorts and as such have the right to use it for themselves. North Beach RLC rent 2 pitches and clubhouses from Stirling council. They don't have a sign but I am pretty sure if the local RU or AFL team decided to train on their pitches on the nights Nth Beach weren't using it they would have something to say!

Look I don't disagree that it is ridiculous and that they are showing an arrogance and disrespect to the community but geez we have much bigger things to be worried about imo! This isn't unique and there is plenty of other situations where other sports have sole use of a council owned facility they maybe just don't put up arrogant signs saying so!

Don't need to worry about it?

There's an AFL nut at the roar saying there are plans to get other grounds, $2 million is nothing to the AFL, at 100k a pop, that's plenty of grounds all sports bar AFL may end up being barred.

Great stuff huh?

 

[Perth Red]

how many playing fields are there in Sydney? How many will be for sole AFL use? How many of those would have been used by RL clubs if they weren't for sole use? If they want to throw away 2mill on 20 playing fields that will have ZERO effect on RL then good luck to them. FFS the sky is not falling in!

 

[Parra]

is that unusual for Sydney? Happens all the time in perth, all of the WARL clubs have such agreements with councils.

It is normal in Sydney for local clubs to be considered permanent hirers of grounds. This involves an annual submission to council and payment of fees as well as submission of hours for regular usage. Typically this means that a club will use the ground for training on weeknights and matches on the weekend.

Outside of the nominated hours in the agreement, the council will then permit casual hirers to use the grounds - schools, gala days, youth groups, touch footy comps etc.

Everyone understands that local clubs need set hours and access and facilities such as canteens and storage. They also understand that other groups in the community need access to the facilities and this is provided accordingly.


That is what is normal.


What is happening in Holroyd and with the aussie rules clubs (who think they are playing in the AFL?) is not normal. Nor is it right.

 

[ParraEelsNRL]

how many playing fields are there in Sydney? How many will be for sole AFL use? How many of those would have been used by RL clubs if they weren't for sole use? If they want to throw away 2mill on 20 playing fields that will have ZERO effect on RL then good luck to them. FFS the sky is not falling in!

How many cricket grounds are there you should be asking :roll:

And if you think the AFL wouldn't stoop to this level to win over the market eventually, you've been in the Perth sun for too long being surrounded by the AFL propaganda machine.

 

[Parra]

how many playing fields are there in Sydney? How many will be for sole AFL use? How many of those would have been used by RL clubs if they weren't for sole use? If they want to throw away 2mill on 20 playing fields that will have ZERO effect on RL then good luck to them. FFS the sky is not falling in!

In junior sport, why does any facility need to exclude kids based solely on the code they choose?


There are plenty of grounds where one only winter sport uses the grounds - there is only so much capacity one field can handle.

That is clearly not the case here. The AFL has paid to keep other sport out.

 

[Perth Red]

lol, come on then Einstein, how many playing fields would AFL need to buy to make RL irrelevant and AFL number one in NSW and Q'land?

As you said this is more if an issue for cricket than having any effect on RL yet we have 12 pages on a RL forum about it!

 

[HowHigh]

Just ban AFL from NSW. Hopefully QLD will follow suit.

 

[franklin2323]

is that unusual for Sydney? Happens all the time in perth, all of the WARL clubs have such agreements with councils.

Not in Sydney. It's quite common to have a big oval for cricket. Either side of the pitch is a soccer/RL field with Netball courts on the side.

That's the way it should be so more of the community can use the facities. Not mention the council get's ground rental all season long

 

[jonno_knights]

I've trained on Cricket fields for RL all my life. Down here in shellharbour the local teams use about half a dozen fields for their juniors to train on, 3 or 4 which are cricket ovals in Summer. I'd assume Sydney would have at least a similar kind of demand for space.

But I think the main uproar about this is the fact anything being played on this oval needs AFL approval, which would really be limited to Aussie Rules matches/training and School Auskick. Even if a kid wanted to go down and practice his goal kicking they probably couldnt, whereas I've always been able to go down to Ron Costello and kick some goals, even though the only organised sport played on there (as far as im aware) is RL. And Im not even too sure of the grounds relationship with the council, as I know when I played we could play there when all the other council grounds were closed due to rain, but I think the club had to maintain the ground. No idea what the deal was after they got admition to the NSW cup aswell.

 

[2_Smoking_Guns]

I think this was pointed out earlier, the sign shows no ownership or responsibility. What if a "good citizen" was to witness another sport being played at the grounds? Who is he/she to call if such a blantant act of misuse of the grounds were being perpetrated?

If I was to see a sign like this erected at my local public playing fields I would be at council chambers demanding an explanation immediately. Well almost immediately, after I finished kicking the ball around with my grandchildren, just as I did with my children and my father and grandfather.

 

[Loudstrat]

FFS can we just move the f*cking sign to the SFS when the Waratahs are playing?