Joint Statement from Boronia Hawks Football Netball Club and Boronia Cricket Club

Last night Knox City Council met to determine whether to accept the $120,000 funding from the State Government to start work on planning for a new pavilion at Tormore Reserve – something which is already on their long term plan. Council sadly voted to say ‘No’ and knocked back this funding due to capacity.

Given the State Government had originally offered $60,000 for planning and then based on advice from Council, offered a further $60,000 to allow for an extra resource, we were hopeful this created the capacity that the project needed.

There’s no denying it, this is a disappointing result for both clubs.

The clubs are of course appreciative of Council’s consideration of the matter and whilst we don’t fully agree with the decision, we accept it. We will continue to work closely with the Council to raise a better understanding of our pending OH&S issues that need to be addressed as part of their priority system. The review on our facilities which is publically online is 5 years old and both clubs have grown and changed dramatically since then.

This has been a long journey and one which doesn’t end after last night.We would like to thank Jackson Taylor MP for getting us this close. Jackson has taken the time to understand the issues we face first hand by attending training sessions, games and functions. He secured this funding to help fix our issues and while we didn’t think at the time it would, or could, be knocked back, we know he won’t stop advocating for us either. We are glad that he understands the importance of this and what it means to Boronia.

We’re also very grateful to Yvonne Allred – Councillor for Baird Ward for her support of the project last night at the meeting. We look forward to continuing to work with her.

It’s clear something needs to be done in the short term for a bespoke facility to ensure women’s participation at Tormore Reserve can continue to grow and that girls and women can feel comfortable and have the facilities they deserve. This will require Council capacity and money.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to say a massive thank you to the EFNL, Cricket Victoria and AFL Victoria – who all backed this in, and we look forward to continuing to work with all of you.