Field of bad dreams
IT’S more than a year since the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games wrapped up but not everyone is happy with the legacy it has left, as the Bulletin discovers.
STEVE Langley is dreaming big. The problem, as he sees it, is that so few with the power to act are doing the same.
The long-serving Gold Coast athletics coach isn’t just bitter about the fact his sport has slinked back into the shadows after the Commonwealth Games, he’s doing something about it.
“Sadly athletics, the sport with the highest profile and participation, does not feature in much of that (legacy) talk,” he says in a view previously voiced by former Olympic champion Glynis Nunn and Sally Pearson’s one-time coach Sharon Hannan.
Armed with passion and perseverance, Langley this month sent out invitations to influential Gold Coasters and
politicians asking if they can help make a difference.
What he wants are new athletics facilities.
His case, as he sees it, is evidenced by the new Gold Coast Aquatic Centre at the Broadwater, and the huge multisport facilities at Coomera and Carrara adjacent to Metricon Stadium.
If those sports can have these ‘legacies’ Langley is asking why can’t athletics?
Well, the sport did ... for a couple of weeks in April last year.
Yet the two tracks built at Carrara for the Games are now ripped up and removed.
“It is understandable that the main athletics track at Metricon Stadium was going to be removed after the Games considering the stadium was borrowed from AFL and the Gold Coast Suns,” says Langley, whose Gold Coast Little Athletics Club is one of the largest in the state.
“However I think that I can safely say that our club and the majority of the athletics fraternity were a little shocked and definitely disappointed that the warm-up track was also removed.
“Therefore athletics has no legacy at all.”
While the Runaway Bay Super Sports Centre benefited in the form of a new tartan track for the Games, Langley insists it was a move destined to happen either way.
“The previous surface was in such a poor state the owners, Queensland Sports and Recreation, had no choice (but to upgrade) if they wanted to attract corporations and national teams to use the facility for pre-Games training,” he says.
Langley insists one-time suggestions of a new athletics headquarters at Carrara – complete with a 3000-seat grandstand – have since melded into oblivion.
“Instead (the field) was returned to a pristine grass AFL oval that does not appear to be used,” says Langley, pointing out Gold Coast’s three existing synthetic tracks (Griffith University, Runaway Bar Sports Super Centre and Somerset College) have restricted access because they are not council-owned. So what about a new location? Langley’s preference is at Pizzey Park, which only this week had the current facilities vandalised.
“It is a picturesque spot not just the local community enjoys but athletes in many sports from around the country come to train,” he says.
“Pizzey Park is centrally located on the coast, accessible by public transport and the proposed light rail.”
Langley laments the fact the Games also didn’t boost membership numbers in the way that the London Olympics delivered a healthy spike in the aftermath.
“Our numbers have slowly increased but are stymied by the quality of and access to athletics facilities,” he says.