Stawell Gift under threat after club officials reject $1.4 million rescue package from the Victorian Government
Stawell Athletic Club will seek fresh talks with the Victorian Government after turning down a rescue package that has placed the future of the Stawell Gift in jeopardy.
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The Stawell Gift is on the brink of collapse with fears Australia’s most famous athletic event could be dead within five years.
There is also grave concerns about the 2020 Gift after talks between the Victorian Government and the Stawell Athletic Club over a $1.4 million rescue package broke down.
The sticking point is the club’s refusal to embrace a new committee being formed to include local council, government, marketing and sponsorship experts who would take over the running of an event first run in 1878.
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But the Stawell Athletic Club was prepared to reopen discussions with the government following an emergency meeting on Friday morning.
Stawell Athletic Club would have three to four seats on the new board and have the power to disband it if necessary.
To get the financial bailout worth $280,000 a year for five years, the club had to agree to the new management structure but it recently told Sports Minister Martin Pakula it had voted down the proposal.
The decision led to the resignation of club patron and 2014 winner Luke Versace, who wrote an open letter to the club voicing his concerns about the future of Australia’s richest footrace.
“Unfortunately discharging this responsibility (as patron) now requires me to publicly state that I have lost faith in the SAC committee to act in the best interests of the event, as opposed to in the interests of themselves,” Versace wrote.
Versace, a lawyer, became involved last month to try to broker a deal between the club and the government.
Another former winner, Jason Richardson, said it was “tragic that this great race is being killed off because of people’s self-interest”.
Should the club continue its negative stance, the Easter event will lose its live TV coverage on Channel 7 and prizemoney will be slashed, running the risk of losing its appeal as one of the great traditions on the Australian sporting calendar.
Versace was adamant the Gift would die if the club did not change its position.
“Crucially, it is the club’s inability to share or cede control in areas it has previously had full autonomy in exchange for lifesaving funding which has prevented a deal from being reached,” he wrote.
“If a deal cannot be reached between the state government and the SAC in the next couple of days, the Stawell Gift as we know it will be forever gone.”
The Gift needed a $140,000 state government bailout this year.
President Neil Blizzard said on Thursday the club remained hopeful of reaching a funding agreement with the government.
“We are putting our view across and still negotiating. We will have a clearer plan in January,” he said.
Originally published as Stawell Gift under threat after club officials reject $1.4 million rescue package from the Victorian Government