Grounds for concern

Woodsdale fights council to return to its home

A TIGHTKNIT Tassie footy community is pleading for its local council to play ball as the local footy club fights to return to playing home games for the first time in almost a decade.

Woodsdale Football Club, which after years of exile returned to the ODFA this season, is hoping next year it can finally return to playing home games at Woodsdale Recreation Ground, also known as Wallaby Park, for the first time since 2014.

While the Lions returned to the field in 2022, they were forced to play all of their home games at Kempton after facilities at Wallaby Park were deemed inadequate by the Southern Midlands Council.

But after putting in more than $25,000 worth of upgrades to their facilities, Woodsdale states it is ticking all the boxes required to return to its home ground in 2023 but that the Council is ‘moving the goalposts’ and creating unnecessary roadblocks.

“If you look at the recommendations the council gave us, there isn’t really any positive recommendations, it’s to demolish, downgrade or shut us down,” Woodsdale footy club committee member Toni Cowle said.

“The council have said the change room structure needs demolishing and that it would cost $660,000 for a new one but there’s nothing wrong with our current ones.

“We paid for our own structural engineer and his report said the change rooms were structurally sound yet the

Council are trying to say they need demolishing and new ones need to be built.”

Cowle said the council had put in a number of nitpicky recommendations the footy club felt were unnecessary.

“At the end of the day we are a country footy association and our facilities and ground are no worse than anybody else in the competition.

“We’ve put in a hell of a lot of work and they’re just hiding behind these reports and unrealistic figures.

“AFL Tas have been great and said these are the guidelines and if the ODFA is happy then we are, but the extremes the council are wanting to go to to get us shut down is a lot.

“There’s other teams in their jurisdiction that have been supported by the council and we expect that we are given the same support and funding that goes into the other clubs and recreational grounds.”

The passionate committee member acknowledged some of the council’s recommendations were reasonable but that they were more than capable of addressing them with the council’s assistance.

“We are hoping for the council to be more open and helpful and for a more positive outlook and to embrace this as a new opportunity.

“Instead of shutting it down they should be supporting us, as it’s not just about football it’s about the community and the youth and its bigger than the footy club.”

The future of Wallaby Park will be discussed at a council meeting on Wednesday.