Athletics to get run out of town

Austadiums • Sunday 9th April 2006

Only two weeks have passed since the most engrossing international track and field competition Melbourne has witnessed in decades and already the evidence has emerged that athletics as we know it in this city is under threat.

Bubbling beneath the surface of Premier Steve Bracks' triumphant unveiling of the $190 million football stadium at Olympic Park is the fact that the ever-changing sporting centre of town could soon be ejecting the very pursuit that gave the precinct its heart.

And while the announcement three days ago answered several big questions about the future of three Melbourne football clubs, it posed just as many. While the future of the Demons appears relatively secure with the deal to share high quality indoor training facilities with Melbourne Storm and Melbourne Victory along with the centralisation of the club's administration, just where the Melbourne footballers will train remains unresolved.

And while Collingwood has made it clear unofficially that World War III will break out if it does not finish up with what is currently known as Olympic Park as its training venue, even the powerful Magpies have not yet been assured of that. What has been officially acknowledged is that Melbourne and Collingwood will train at ovals on Gosch's Paddock, which is being dug up at the moment. The new 20,000-seat bubble stadium will sit upon what is currently the Magpies' outdoor training surface, the old greyhound track now known as Edwin Flack Park or, depending on who you talk to, Bob Rose Oval.

Which leads us to the three big questions:
Will the two clubs become the first in the AFL to share a training oval? Will that venue be Olympic Park? And, if so, what happens to the athletes and the hundreds of schools and clubs that come from around Victoria to use the famous stadium?

Melbourne remains unsure whether it will stay at Gosch's Paddock, which boasts ovals big enough to satisfy the club's desire to improve its key-position players but requires further development and, in reality, is hardly the perfect environmental solution for any sports training on a regular basis, given its position on the corner of Punt Road. But it is difficult to envisage how a sharing arrangement with Collingwood could work. (it can only work if Melbourne submits to whatever terms Collingwood dictate)

The AFL for six years has been pushing the Victorian clubs to pool their resources but, interestingly, no one has come close to really sharing a training venue whatever the cost benefits. And the Magpies have made it clear that Melbourne could use their oval only after their players have finished with it.  Collingwood hesitates to use the word "share" in these circumstances.

Both the Demons and the Magpies have submitted training schedules to the Melbourne and Olympic Parks Trust and, quite clearly, they clash. Although the Premier once seemed determined to keep athletics in the shadow of the MCG for historic and romantic reasons, his Department of Sport and Recreation appears more flexible. Independent consultant Strathcorp has been engaged to conduct a feasibility study to decide the future of Athletics Victoria and the growing speculation is that the sport could be moved to Albert Park.

Traditional athletic circles have baulked at the suggestion that the linchpin of every Olympic Games, track and field, could be thrown out of the Olympic Park precinct and we daren't imagine the battle brewing over what Collingwood might rename the athletic track should it become a football ground. 

Athletics Australia, which boasts Eddie McGuire as a director, who, in fairness, has been visionary in other areas but clearly cannot become involved in this, remains undecided. Should its state body and Melbourne training venue be moved to Gosch's Paddock to remain near the MCG, it might prefer bigger and better facilities alongside the Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre.

But the question of just where the home of track and field will exist in Melbourne is a battle waiting to be fought. Our understanding is that it looms as a bitter one. And the inescapable conclusion from what will be a massive and impressive facelift at Olympic Park and its surrounds is that football, in all its shapes and colours, could finish up throwing athletics out.

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Only two weeks have passed since the most engrossing international track and field competition Melbourne has witnessed in decades and already the evidence has emerged that athletics as we know it in this city is under threat.
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