The Melbourne Football Club is incapable of coming up with a viable option for a permanent training ground and facilities, so I thought that someone else needs to.
The problem the club has at the moment is that they are wedded to the idea that they belong at the MCG and have to have a training base near it. Problem is - it's never going to happen. They have continually failed and we continue to fall behind every other club in the competition.
The MGC is no longer Melbournes ground - it's a shared AFL/Cricket ground that Melbourne has no more claim to than any other club.
To have a base in the area would mean taking public space for a private entity. Melbourne does not have the supporter base to sway a local or state government to grant this.
The club has wasted the last ten years chasing a pipe dream that is never going to happen.
They also have no angle to get funding other than being a football club. Other clubs have scammed funding by calling them community hubs, indigenous training centres, disabled training centers, but Melbourne has never put up anything that will allow the government to justify the money.
My idea
The Club should partner with a University, and move their training facilities on site. The Club gets to use available land without trying to get East Melbourne residents to give up public space.
The University could build courses around a professional sporting club - They could develop a Sportmedicene centre, sports science, human movement, analytics, sports management. Being aligned with an elite sporting club and getting practical experience would be a huge point of difference for attracting both academics and students.
Funding could come from the University, and all three levels of Government. State and local governments would want to push Victoria as leading the country in Sports Med, analytics, etc, while Fed Gov would be looking to attract overseas students.
Melbourne would then have access to world glass professionals and great training facilities.
The best realistic option for this is La Trobe Uni Bundoora - most importantly they have the land, they are also trying to catch up with Monash and Melbourne who they have always been a poor cousin to, and this would give them a great point of difference.
Deakin Burwood is also an option. While they don't have as much land, the location might site better with the old-school MFC snobbery.
I'm interested to hear thoughts on this option or any other ideas.
The problem the club has at the moment is that they are wedded to the idea that they belong at the MCG and have to have a training base near it. Problem is - it's never going to happen. They have continually failed and we continue to fall behind every other club in the competition.
The MGC is no longer Melbournes ground - it's a shared AFL/Cricket ground that Melbourne has no more claim to than any other club.
To have a base in the area would mean taking public space for a private entity. Melbourne does not have the supporter base to sway a local or state government to grant this.
The club has wasted the last ten years chasing a pipe dream that is never going to happen.
They also have no angle to get funding other than being a football club. Other clubs have scammed funding by calling them community hubs, indigenous training centres, disabled training centers, but Melbourne has never put up anything that will allow the government to justify the money.
My idea
The Club should partner with a University, and move their training facilities on site. The Club gets to use available land without trying to get East Melbourne residents to give up public space.
The University could build courses around a professional sporting club - They could develop a Sportmedicene centre, sports science, human movement, analytics, sports management. Being aligned with an elite sporting club and getting practical experience would be a huge point of difference for attracting both academics and students.
Funding could come from the University, and all three levels of Government. State and local governments would want to push Victoria as leading the country in Sports Med, analytics, etc, while Fed Gov would be looking to attract overseas students.
Melbourne would then have access to world glass professionals and great training facilities.
The best realistic option for this is La Trobe Uni Bundoora - most importantly they have the land, they are also trying to catch up with Monash and Melbourne who they have always been a poor cousin to, and this would give them a great point of difference.
Deakin Burwood is also an option. While they don't have as much land, the location might site better with the old-school MFC snobbery.
I'm interested to hear thoughts on this option or any other ideas.
