Facilities at Warrnambool’s Reid Oval have been labelled ‘embarrassing’, fuelling calls for a major overhaul.
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Bendigo Football Netball League officials and players were disappointed with the surface and inadequate facilities during Saturday’s AFL Victoria championships match against the Hampden league.
Their concerns add weight to the decade-long campaign to upgrade Reid Oval.
Bendigo league coach Brett Fitzpatrick said a number of players were disappointed with the ground.
"Warrnambool has been such a strong supplier of AFL talent so you would want the amenities to be a little bit better than what they are," Fitzpatrick said.
"For a town Warrnambool's size I'd say it has to be one of the most disappointing (I’ve seen).”
Warrnambool City councillor Mike Neoh said the concerns were worrying.
"It's embarrassing – not only from a sporting point of view but also from the city's point of view," Cr Neoh said.
He said he was not surprised with the facilities labelled "disgraceful" a few years ago when the city hosted a TAC Cup match.
"I think it's an embarrassment to our city," Cr Neoh said. "We're very disappointed we got nothing in the state budget."
Cr Neoh said netball facilities and the scoreboard upgrades were complete, but more were needed.
"We need to do the rest of it in one hit," he said.
"I would be worried about sending someone in the changerooms at times because they are so antiquated." Cr Neoh said an online petition to upgrade Reid Oval was gaining traction.
"We've got coaches, players, football umpires and people who have been advocating for this for the last two decades who have signed the petition," he said.
Golfer Marc Leishman and first-class cricketer Tim Ludeman have thrown their support behind the upgrade bid, signing the petition.
AFL Western District general manager Kate Williamson said the rundown facilities were the only negative on an otherwise positive weekend for south-west football.
"I was really proud of Jonathan Brown giving back to the region, I am really proud of the coaching support that was around the seniors and the under 18s," she said.
"Their level of involvement and commitment was really high and the same with the players on the day - the effort they put in the last quarter especially to represent our region so well is something we should all be enormously proud of.
"It's a shame we can't be equally proud of the state of our facilities, the state of our premier ground."
AFL Central Victoria regional general manager Carol Cathcart said while she wasn't involved in any formal discussions about the facilities on the weekend, she was aware of the Bendigo league’s concerns.
"The surface of the ground wasn't quite what we're used to," Cathcart said.
"A number of our boys weren't used to it being so slippery under foot."
Cathcart said Bendigo was blessed with a state-of the-art facility, the Queen Elizabeth Oval.
"When we go down there (Warrnambool) our boys certainly realise how lucky they are," she said.
Warrnambool City Council last year released a multi-staged plan to upgrade Reid Oval across 10 years with an indicative price tag of $7 million.
The plan includes relaying the surface, adding irrigation and drainage, new lights, changerooms and spectator facilities.
There were hopes the project would receive state government funding in this month’s budget but the council revealed its planning was not finalised.