APEX STORM
Clash over use of sports oval
JUNIOR rugby league clubs have clashed with Dubbo Regional Council over the use of Apex Oval with junior rugby league finals set to be sidelined in favour of protecting the main field’s surface for a pre-season A-league match scheduled for a week later.
Local junior clubs claim they were informed of a decision to shift their grand final games off the main oval to Field 2 via an email from the Dubbo Regional Council earlier this month and without being consulted.
The issue came to light over the weekend when several junior rugby league clubs decided to post excerpts from Council’s email on their respective Facebook pages and appealed for the public to write to Council asking them to reconsider its decision.
Dubbo Mayor Ben Shields directly responded to a post on St John’s Dubbo Junior Rugby League’s Facebook account stating that “this isn’t a decision I have been involved in (or even knew about)” but pledged to look into it.
Moderators of the St John’s JRL Facebook page responded to Mr Shield’s comments with screenshots of emails that had been sent to both the Mayor’s office as well as his direct email address.
Mr Shields replied stating “there is nothing in my email box about this” and promised to try and find a solution.
Secretary of Dubbo and District Junior Rugby League, Sue Egan, said she was most frustrated with the way the situation had been handled.
“We booked the oval in January and it was confirmed in January and the most disappointing bit is that there has been no consultation, even though Council staff are saying they had consulted with us,” she told Dubbo Photo News.
“We didn’t know anything until we got an email, so the whole thing has been really disappointing to say the least.”
Sonya Warwick, secretary of South Dubbo Junior Rugby League, described playing under the lights on Apex Oval in front of a grandstand full of spectators was the “epitome of junior rugby league”.
“The look in the kids’ eyes when they get to play out there is just amazing and that’s what it’s all about,” she said.
“We are all for our council bringing these premier league games to town, and Apex Oval is a community-based sporting ground for all types of sports. In fact we encourage that A-league game to be here, we think that’s great for Dubbo, but we are devastated that our kids won’t be able to play on that main oval which is what their aim is all year.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Ms Egan had not been contacted by Council to arrange a meeting.
Dubbo Photo News also reached out to Council and Cr Shields, but no response was received prior to our deadline.