Bendigo Bombers' chairman slams QEO fiasco

By Luke West
Updated November 7 2012 - 3:55am, first published June 16 2010 - 11:39am
Angry: Bendigo Bombers chairman David Joss.            Picture: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN
Angry: Bendigo Bombers chairman David Joss. Picture: ALEX ELLINGHAUSEN

A FRUSTRATED Bendigo Bank Bombers chairman David Joss has branded the Queen Elizabeth Oval the “laughing stock” of football in country Victoria.Joss’ stinging comments yesterday came after, for the second time in as many seasons, the QEO surface was deemed unsuitable to host VFL football.The Bombers were scheduled to meet country rivals North Ballarat at the QEO in round 10 this Sunday, but following an inspection by both clubs yesterday morning, the game has been switched to Essendon’s Windy Hill after surface concerns.In a further blow for the Bombers, the shifting of the game has forced the club to postpone its Team of the Decade function on Sunday night.Although at this stage it’s just this Sunday’s match that has been transferred, there’s no guarantees the Bombers will be back on the QEO this season.“Since late May when we had the heavy rain in Bendigo and we played our game against the Casey Scorpions (May 30), the ground sustained quite a bit of damage and hasn’t recovered to the extent we would like,” Joss said.“Since that game there has been some concern across the league and from opposing clubs regarding the viability of the ground and whether it will come back up or not this season.“Obviously, the prospect of not playing games in Bendigo for a Bendigo-based club is devastating.“We’re very proud to represent our community, but at the end of the day, if player safety and welfare is in doubt, the league doesn’t have any other option than to reschedule games.“Our plan is to assess the ground on a week-to-week basis, work with council through that process and, hopefully, we can get back on the ground this year.“We’re hoping this doesn’t mean we’re off the ground for the rest of the season, but in reality, if it’s not rested it’s going to struggle to come back up.“In the past year the Bendigo Bombers have worked very hard. We’ve restructured our club, we’ve formed new and stronger relationships with the local league and clubs, and we think we’re the only club in the VFL with a demonstrated pathway from local football to VFL and AFL.“We think this is going to test us not being in Bendigo, but the resolve of our team will stand up and we’ll continue to go forward.“But at the end of the day, if you schedule 100 games of football on grass, plus training, in winter and it rains, it’s going to struggle. We saw that in 2009 and we’re seeing it again in 2010.”Joss believes Bendigo should be embarrassed that for the second year in a row, the QEO surface has diminished to the extent it’s not satisfactory for VFL football.“The QEO was once regarded from the statewide footy community as the jewel in the crown of central Victorian sport in many ways,” Joss said.“But I think that every single citizen of Bendigo should really be embarrassed by this. “We’ve let our premier sporting facility diminish to the stage that for the second year in a row we can’t host state-level football.“Based on last year’s experience and the conversations we had last year, I think it’s very safe to say Bendigo is the laughing stock of the Victorian football community.”Asked what the main concern with the surface of the ground was, Joss answered: “The concern Ballarat had was the unevenness of the ground.“There’s some patches there that are absolutely rock hard without any grass on it.“There’s other areas where the grass is lifting, so under foot it would certainly give way, and the bare patches are just unsuitable.”Continued — Page 34The only other VFL games scheduled at the QEO this season are against Frankston (July 4) and Werribee (July 24).In July last year the QEO surface was deemed unsuitable for VFL football by AFL Victoria, forcing the Bombers’ last four QEO games to be transferred to Windy Hill.Meanwhile, the planned exhibition women’s match between Sunbury and North Ballarat that was to have been played as a VFL curtain-raiser before Sunday’s game will now be played at Sunbury from noon Sunday.

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