Melbourne Football Club’s slated move to Caulfield Racecourse has prompted concern from residents, community sport groups, the local MP and the council about a long-term commitment to community use of the land in Melbourne’s inner east.
Melbourne Football Club and Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust quietly released statements in December last year revealing “a joint feasibility study” that would, according to the Demons, “identify a location for the Club’s long-term home base within the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve”.
Anaru August with dog Baxter and other Caulfield dog-walking locals concerned about what Melbourne Football Club’s shift to the racecourse will mean for public use.Credit: Wayne Taylor
Melbourne Football Club currently has no single home base, with its administration staff based at the MCG and training split between Gosch’s Paddock in Melbourne Olympic Park and the Casey Fields sports complex in Cranbourne in the south-eastern outskirts.
In its announcement, Melbourne president Kate Roffey described the Caulfield feasibility study as “a huge step forward for the Club” and that it had “the potential to change the Club for the next 50 years”.
The trust in its December statement said the study would “investigate” a range of community infrastructure including walking, running and cycling tracks, revitalisation of the wetlands in the reserve and “a range of multipurpose natural turf sports fields”.
But there are widespread concerns about a perceived lack of transparency over the plan and decision-making. It is not known how much the government-funded feasibility plan will cost, what the specific parameters of the study are, how much land could be leased to the club and how or if it would be shared with the public or local community clubs.
Kevin Milstein from the Maccabi Football Club, who has long lobbied for more facilities for local sport clubs at the racecourse, said he was “disappointed” by the lack of clarity and consultation with community clubs who he said were all in desperate need of more space in the municipality.
Melbourne playing a simulation match at Casey Fields in Cranbourne East this month. The club hopes to shift all operations to Caulfield.Credit: Penny Stephens
“It has always been promised that this is going to become a community space and used for multiple sports – available to all the community clubs in the area to be able to book,” he said.
Caulfield local Anaru August has rallied a group of 100 dog-walkers who use the reserve to write letters to MPs, the trust and the council asking for input on future public access at the precinct.
“What the public is hoping for is a good deal,” he said. “We want the opportunity to actually have a voice at the table or for the decision makers to talk to us.”
Glen Eira Council – which has no planning control over the reserve – also confirmed it had not been consulted on any detail in the feasibility study.
Mayor Anne-Marie Cade said while Melbourne moving to Caulfield had “the potential to increase and accelerate investment in sporting infrastructure in the area”, she also flagged that “investment from elite sporting clubs has been known to reduce community access in other locations”.
“The Caulfield Racecourse Reserve is Crown land in the heart of the Caulfield Activity Centre. It has long been identified as a missed opportunity for broad community use,” she said.
“As the municipality with the lowest amount of open space per person in metropolitan Melbourne, we are eager to see any feasibility study address maximising the space for broad community use.”
The Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust declined to answer any questions from The Age with a spokesperson saying they were “not leading this study” – despite their own announcement describing it as a joint venture with the club.
Publicly accessible wetlands in the centre of the Caulfield racecourse.Credit: Eddie Jim
Melbourne Football Club also declined to answer questions from The Age.
A state government spokeswoman said the study would be completed by mid-2024 and would “consider operational opportunities and constraints” for Melbourne shifting to Caulfield.
She said any new facilities would, “be home to the club’s AFL and AFLW football development programs and provide facilities for the local community to enjoy, built in partnership with the Caulfield Racecourse Reserve Trust”.
The racecourse has a long history of disputes about maintaining one of its core functions as a public recreation area and park.
The 54-hectare parcel of land was established in the 1870s to be used for three purposes – a racecourse, public recreation ground and public park – and is managed by a state-government-appointed board of seven trustees.
A major source of revenue for the trust is a 65-year lease to the Melbourne Racing Club for up to 45 race days.
The public cannot access the racecourse reserve on race days. On non-race days the centre of the track is open for dog walking and recreation between sunrise and sunset.
In 2014 a scathing auditor-general’s report found the public land was being used almost exclusively to serve the interests of the Melbourne Racing Club, and found much of it was not available for the community’s use and cited issues of conflict of interest.
In 2016 the state government disbanded the board and there has since been an overhaul of the trust and its governance. The new board announced a $570 million plan in 2021 that would see a large concert space, an indoor sports complex and up to seven sporting fields in the large space within the perimeter of the racetrack, linked by tunnels to areas outside the track.
But last year the trust flagged it was running out of money.
Local Liberal MP David Southwick said the government needed to answer what Melbourne Football Club would contribute back to the community, when the reserve would and would not be off limits to the public and who would have the final say on the carve-up between private and public use.
“No matter what, whatever happens, there should be an ability for shared assets that the community uses when the major tenants are not using them,” he said.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.