Saints bailing on Moorabin?

La Vache

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Thread starter #1
Did anyone else hear this?

Was announced on SEN about 20 mins ago that the Herald Sun - Possibly Damien Barrett? - are running a story tomorrow stating that the council have pulled the plans for an upgrade and the Saints have had enough.

Thoughts?
 

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RoyalBlue

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#2
Did anyone else hear this?

Was announced on SEN about 20 mins ago that the Herald Sun - Possibly Damien Barrett? - are running a story tomorrow stating that the council have pulled the plans for an upgrade and the Saints have had enough.

Thoughts?
I expect Caro to come out and say the Saints are off to Darwin now.
 

Falchoon

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#4
Disappointing, though a move to Casey wouldn't necessarily be the worst move the club could make in terms of support. The Brighton brigade of players may not be so keen though.

Might see the players Wading in Westernport??
 

La Vache

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Thread starter #6
With Melbourne moving to the new Olympic Park Stadium, is the Junction Oval a realistic option for the Saints here?
 

La Vache

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Thread starter #7
Did anyone else hear this?

Was announced on SEN about 20 mins ago that the Herald Sun - Possibly Damien Barrett? - are running a story tomorrow stating that the council have pulled the plans for an upgrade and the Saints have had enough.

Thoughts?
I might add that having read the article it appears that St Kilda aren't entirely "bailing", they may still train there once a month.

And they are also going to honour the Lease.

Does this make sense financially for them though?
 

sauce_head

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#8
With Melbourne moving to the new Olympic Park Stadium, is the Junction Oval a realistic option for the Saints here?
Could be an okay call, but are they after investment? I do not really know what the conditions are like either.

It may be difficult to get local government funding as the oval lies within Albert Park and is therefore governed by Parks Victoria (Port Phillip control everything around it). Port Melbourne is a nice suburban ground and is in good condition (when I was last there in 2000!).

Would a move to Port Melbourne (PM) be the end of our association with Casey? It would almost seem certain it would if the move was made. Are PM associated with any AFL club? Can associations been disregarded without any compensation?

Seems there may be a nice way out:
http://saints.com.au/Season2007/News/NewsArticle/tabid/5315/Default.aspx?newsId=23186
 

sauce_head

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#9
I might add that having read the article it appears that St Kilda aren't entirely "bailing", they may still train there once a month.

And they are also going to honour the Lease.

Does this make sense financially for them though?
Good question. It seems that they would want to keep local community support there at least.
 

Bollox

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#10
Big news...dont blame them for chucking the towel in.

If that council cannot compromise to keep one of our foundation clubs happy and allow it to naturally expand then just move on. By all reports they are desperate to update facilities and should be allowed the freedom to do it.

I havent spent much time in Melb for yrs so i dont know what the Port Melb area can offer these days ...is it a fitting and easy enough destination ?...staying inner city would obviously be preferable.

They wont find any shortage of councils wanting to attract them....it SHOULD be a prestige factor in having one of the old clubs within the council...they certainly wont have a shortage of developers queing up and may find they will attract investment they never figured upon.

Dont see why the players would see it as anything but good news...fans should think of it the same way....not often one of our clubs moves.
 

fishmonger

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#11
With Melbourne moving to the new Olympic Park Stadium, is the Junction Oval a realistic option for the Saints here?
I agree, the Junction Oval has so much potential and it is the heart and soul of St Kilda. This would return the saints to their spiritual home.

Would be fantastic to go and watch a St Kilda reserves game at the Junction in an expanded AFL competition. I'd be there with bells on.
 

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#12
Its a bit odd that the club made this huge announcement just a few months ago without dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. If poker machines were an issue, why make an announcement until after the conflict is resolved?

I find it hard to believe that the issue is just about moving some poker machines 500 metres down the road. I'm sure there are deeper reasons as to why this issue has gone pear-shaped.
 

dan warna

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#13
the council moved the goal posts at the last minute. this issue wasn't raised till the meeting yesterday.

St Kilda has invested 300k in preliminary work, architects and engineering reports etc.

the AFL and State government were chipping in 5 million between them and st kilda about 2 1/2 million for a community resource centre.

The saints have been planning this for about 2 1/2 years and everything was ready to go.

while I dont agree with the concept of poker machines it was part of the deal agreed upon by ALL parties.

having worked with councils before there are some that want to progress issues and make things work and others that are a bunch of beaurocratical imbeciles.

(by example one business I worked with waited 5 months for a 3 month permit then the permit made it a clause of the permit to install a bicycle stand outside the premises, to install the bicycle stand would require a council permit, that would require up to 3 months to approve)

I am dissapointed for the st kilda football club and I can't blame them for walking away from this moronic bunch of twits.
 

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#14
I just hope the Saints clean up the site when they move on. After all we ended up on Today Tonight over Vic Park, even though we allocated a million for clean up of stands that were going to be demolished!

Probably brinkmanship in order to get there way. Casey would be an awful place so only Port is viable and they will have to get Port Melbourne on side first (Port are quite financial these days).

If the Junction oval could be re-developed, it would have been done by now.
 
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#15
Everybody knows councils are like that Surely StKilda know that too, they cant be that naive.

Maybe Butterss' many highly publicised run-ins with Council over his own Brighton property have put him off-side with the Council, making it difficult for him to have a workable dialogue?

Like I say, theres two sides to this story and presently we are only seeing one.
 

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#18
Difference is we had our new venue in place when we made the decision to move. St Kilda are moving but have no definitive option. Not a good way to go about it IMO although they may get a bidding war for the funding that comes with their relocation.

Local Councils don't you love them.
 

clobba

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#19
Its a bit odd that the club made this huge announcement just a few months ago without dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. If poker machines were an issue, why make an announcement until after the conflict is resolved?

I find it hard to believe that the issue is just about moving some poker machines 500 metres down the road. I'm sure there are deeper reasons as to why this issue has gone pear-shaped.
So deeper reasons on which side? Sounds pretty straight forward to me, from memory weren't there a couple of bumps in the process early on caused by the council also?
 
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#20
So deeper reasons on which side? Sounds pretty straight forward to me, from memory weren't there a couple of bumps in the process early on caused by the council also?

It takes two to tango. StKilda announced it as a done deal just six months ago - why the sudden change of heart? Either the announcement was premature and ill-concieved, or the change in heart is due to some recent breakdown in relations between council and club.

Its possible that the council just moved the goalposts recently (pardon the pun) for no particular reason. But I'd suspect theres a reason behind why they'd do this. Maybe Butterss can shed some light as to how these events unfolded. I find it hard to believe that they woke up one day to suddenly find teh Council had done the dirty on them, just for the fun of it.
 

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#21
Difference is we had our new venue in place when we made the decision to move. St Kilda are moving but have no definitive option. Not a good way to go about it IMO although they may get a bidding war for the funding that comes with their relocation.

Local Councils don't you love them.
Thats true...but there's no shortage of options for them...they would have explored all likely options just in case the council remained a problem. It has been going on for so long they would already have plans and preferences outlined ready to put to the members.

Bet u 5 bux there'll be a few long lunches between the heirachy of the two clubs having had similar experiences and wanting similar results.

They may see an enormous financial windfall from simply moving house close by....staying put would be the expensive option for no advantage.
 

MightyFighting

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#22
This board really is La-La Land sometimes. An AFL club cannot use the same training ground as a VFL club. And I don't think a local council would kick out a VFL club just for then honour of hosting an AFL club's training sessions.

Besides, have a look at the North Port Oval, and tell us where the new training facilities will be built, and who's going to pay for them.
 

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#23
Bollox

It clearly states in the article that St Kilda believes the funding package from the State Govt it transferable but they have not confirmed it.

The big problem will be up-keep of the stands etc as I imagine the Saints will be responsible for that. The Collingwood council tried to take us to the cleaners over similar issues and we have a lot more money.
 

Bollox

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#24
Bollox

It clearly states in the article that St Kilda believes the funding package from the State Govt it transferable but they have not confirmed it.

The big problem will be up-keep of the stands etc as I imagine the Saints will be responsible for that. The Collingwood council tried to take us to the cleaners over similar issues and we have a lot more money.


My problem is i havent travelled thru inner Melb enough lately to know the state of the old grounds and even where the obvious options would be for them...as far as their old home ground is concerned tho they'd have similar issues to the pies but they would have factored all that in and i doubt it couldnt be easily offset...they arnt exactly broke and that funding package is likely transferrable...why wouldnt it be ?

U may find they have an ace up their sleeve and it isnt as "spur of the moment" as it seems today. Might be a major project already in the pipelines somewhere.

Either way the stoopid council is the loser again. They'll lose one of the countries great old clubs yet still have them generating revenue from the same pokies in the same social club they've refused to compromise over.

Councils are a joke...no bloody idea...they've screwed themselves.
 
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#25
Either way the stoopid council is the loser again. They'll lose one of the countries great old clubs yet still have them generating revenue from the same pokies in the same social club they've refused to compromise over.

Councils are a joke...no bloody idea...they've screwed themselves.

Council still has a 30 year lease - why would they care.
 
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