Mud and slush for grand final
Ellinbank and District Football League president Roger Gwynne has slated Baw Baw Shire over the condition of Western Park oval for last Saturday’s grand finals.
But there are plenty within the local football community and EDFL clubs that claim the league’s board of management should have decided on another venue several weeks ago.
Gippsland League re-scheduled its first semifinal on September 10 to Sale because of the state of Western Park ground.
Since then more than 110 millimetres of rain has fallen at Warragul.
The main issue at Western Park, and the reason the Gippsland League match was moved, is the mud and slush of the centre turf wicket area of about 35x30 metres.
But when the early arrivals got to the ground on Saturday they also saw large parts of the surface underwater following heavy overnight rain.
EDFL officials met with shire representatives on site late on Monday afternoon of last week to decide whether the ground would be playable for the EDFL’s biggest day of the year.
Although the rain that eventuated throughout the week, some 55 millimetres, was forecast by the Bureau of Meteorology it was decided to proceed with the grand finals at Western Park.
The start of Saturday’s football games was pushed backed 30 minutes to try to allow time for some of the surface water to drain or be cleared.
Addressing the luncheon Mr Gwynne said the league was “on the verge” of re-locating the game but had been assured by the shire the ground would be in “perfect condition” on Saturday.
He was also critical that while the league had been told “10 shire blokes would be here this morning (Saturday) to work on the ground” but claimed only two turned up.
Baw Baw shire’s director community assets Phil Cantillon said yesterday that early last week council was confident the ground would be safe and playable but there were no guarantees on what the final condition would be and there had been more than twice the amount of rain than predicted.
He said top dressing, light rolling of the cricket wicket area and removal of surface water around the centre of the ground had continued throughout the week including on game day.
Ultimately it was the decision of the EDFL to decide whether to play (at Western Park) knowing that council would do everything possible to provide the best conditions, Mr Cantillon said.
The Gazette understands some tentative inquiries were made into shifting the grand finals – football and netball – to Garfield or Yarragon.
Many associated with EDFL clubs as officials or supporters have commented that it was obvious weeks ago, and especially in light of the Gippsland League decision, that another venue should have been found.
They were stunned that didn’t happen even as late as the start of last week with the rain that was forecast for the rest of the week.
The fact that the four grand final matches produced a total of just 38 goals was testimony to the state of the ground that chopped up considerably as the day progressed.
Parking also was another big issue on Saturday, but not weather related.
Western Park does not have a huge internal car parking capacity for the biggest crowd of the season, something compounded this year with the completion of the Abbey Gardens Aged Care complex in Tarwin St on an area previously used for overflow parking.
Tarwin St and residential streets on the eastern side of the ground were clogged with parked cars and traffic.