By XAVIER SMERDON
IF MELBOURNE is to remain the sporting capital of Australia it must extend its sports infrastructure into the booming West, according to a leading professor.
The director of Victoria University’s Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living, Professor Hans Westerbeek, said Melbourne’s cluster of sports infrastructure and concentration of sport business professionals was a major reason it could maintain the saturation of sport the city was famous for.
“Melbourne has this critical mass of sports infrastructure that began with the hosting of the 1956 Olympics and really picked up in the 1980s with the construction of Melbourne Park next to the MCG, more targeted government investment and a major events strategy,” Professor Westerbeek said.
Prof Westerbeek was speaking at the SportsWest conference held last week and attended by AFL CEO Andrew Demetriou, Grand Prix CEO Andrew Westacott and Tennis Australia CEO Steve Wood.
Prof Westerbeek said for Melbourne to host more professional teams, extend its major events and maintain its position as number one sport city it needs to extend the reach of its sporting infrastructure.
He said existing infrastructure and growth forecasts were providing momentum for that to happen in Melbourne’s West.
“In the West we have VU as a specialist tertiary education and research provider in sport, Maribyrnong College as an elite sport specialist high school, the Western Bulldogs as a professional sport organisation and the Victoria Racing Club as a premier elite sporting venue, just to name a few,” he said.
“Logical extensions to that network are sporting links into education through the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, into community health through Western Health, community development through LeadWest and business development through the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce and Industry.”
