Family fury at name-dropping

NEWTOWN & Chilwell Cricket Club has vigorously defended its move to rename Stinton Oval following a backlash from the family.

Two Blues president Frank Tuskes stressed that the club would continue to respect the history of Stinton Oval, named in honour of former Newtown & Chilwell mayor Frederick Stinton, despite criticism from relatives.

On October 13, the Two Blues and Geelong Amateur Football Netball Club officially announced a lucrative sponsorship deal that would see Stinton Oval renamed KFC Oval for the next three years.

But Rick Stinton, the grandson of Geelong trailblazer Frederick, said the family was bitterly disappointed to learn that the Stinton name had been removed as part of the new naming rights.

“I’m not sure that anything can be gained from it, but our family isn’t happy about it,” Rick Stinton said.

“My ancestors were part of the beginning of Geelong, my grandfather Frederick Stinton was the Mayor of Newtown and Chilwell.

“It makes my blood boil. It’s like it means nothing.

“One of the worst things is we’ve done a lot for Geelong. My greatgreat-grandfather was the guy that laid the foundations for Kardinia Park in the 1850s and we all know how substantial that is.”

In unveiling KFC Oval a fortnight ago, Tuskes said the co-tenants were determined to maintain the link with the past while embracing the future.

He said the club followed all due process with the application to the council for a temporary name change and rejected suggestions the two clubs had disrespected the Stinton family.

“It is ridiculous for anyone to make those claims that we don’t respect Mayor Stinton,” Tuskes said.

“Anyone at the official launch of the sponsorship would have heard of our recognition of his role and of the request from KFC, the naming rights sponsors, that the huge Stinton Oval sign remain in place. On March 7 this year, the Geelong Advertiser quoted our club patron, David Shaw, acknowledging the role mayor Stinton played in creating the oval that has been our home since 1956.

“Running a sports club these days is like running a small business, with all the challenges that go with out.

“The cost involved in running a club is enormous. The fact that KFC came out and helped us with a temporary naming-rights sponsorship is enormous for us.

“It means now that we can look after the ground, we can get more things for our members in football, netball and cricket.

“This sponsorship is crucial for us and KFC and the Hosking family were very respectful of all of this.”

Rick Stinton said the family questioned why the name was removed, suggesting the ground could have been named KFC Stinton Oval.

“That makes a lot of sense to me,” he said.

“One of our family members drove past the other day and said there’s KFC signs everywhere but no reference to our family name.

“The best thing they could have done was called it Stinton Oval but add the sponsor KFC.

“They didn’t have to remove the name.”