Whitehorse Colts: Club’s fury as bid for netball court at Springfield Reserve rejected

A netball club in Melbourne’s east has accused the local council of gender bias on sporting resources, after a 1200-signature petition failed to land it a new court.

Players from the Whitehorse Colts and secretary Melissa Collard are disappointed with Whitehorse Council's rejection of their plans for a netball court at Box Hill North's Springfield Park. Picture; Kiel Egging.

A netball club is crying foul over a Melbourne’s council’s decision to block its bid for a new court, despite attracting more than 1200 signatures of support.

Whitehorse councillors refused the Whitehorse Colts pitch for a single netball court at Box Hill North’s Springfield Reserve, with an officers’ report stating the park’s facilities were “at capacity”.

The club had submitted a masterplan to fit the court in by moving an existing playground in the bottom right corner of the park, along with upgrading cricket nets and a carpark, backed by a 1278-strong petition.

But council officers believed the move would lead to a “significant loss of vegetation” which went against its Urban Forest Strategy, and moving the playground would lead to “unreasonable amenity impacts” on nearby homes.

They also felt building one court was not a strong business case for broad community use and would only service one club.

Instead, the councillors agreed to an amended motion to consider options for a new multi-court facility in the area, which would cater to expected population growth.

Prior to the decision, the Colts’ netball secretary Melissa Collard accused the council of continually prioritising sport infrastructure upgrades for male-dominated sports, despite two years of lobbying for the project.

She told Leader there was no adequate facilities for the club’s 85 players and other netballers wanting to play in the Box Hill North area.

“We’ve seen through Covid how excluded girls are in the community,” she said.

“I’ve got a son who can find a footy oval or cricket nets within a 10 minute walk of home in any direction, but with the girls, they have nothing, not a single place in the community where they can play and enjoy the sport they love and see their friends.”

Ms Collard said she understood the economics of the council’s decision but felt “one court is better than nothing”.

“They (council) prioritise footy, cricket and stuff like that, and we just get the leftovers.

“They keep saying ‘we’re not sexist’, but their actions completely show the opposite of that.”

Cr Mark Lane, who had been involved with the sport for many years, said the council’s decision was ‘in no way a slap in our face to our netballers”.

“It’s not about excluding female-dominated sport, and we are not anti-female support,” he said.

“It’s about being financially responsible and making a decision that will last for many years.

“As the report notes, this is not the best location, but let’s have a look at other options over the coming time.”

Cr Blair Barker cited the council’s Box Hill city masterplan and the demand for more sports courts in the community, and urged council officers to explore other options.

“We know we need more hard courts, we need it for more than netball and it needs to be on the western side of the city, because that’s where we’re putting people in 34-storey apartment buildings,” he said.

Colts’ senior player Ellie, 22, said she and her teammates desperately needed access to better nearby facilities to help them be competitive on match days.

“There’s not many courts around us that have netball rings for us to train on, we don’t have proper facilities, we’re just stuck with little areas which is really hard.”