By Hamish Heard
ALTONA North could still become the permanent base for elite junior football in the Western suburbs despite Hobsons Bay councillors earlier rejecting a $600,000 offer from Western Jets Football Club.
Councillors told Star that their decision two weeks ago to reject the club’s offer to improve facilities at Crofts Oval so it could be used as its training base could have been based on the wrong information.
Six out of seven councillors voted against the proposal, citing concerns the move would leave local clubs without grounds as the council tried to juggle them between drought-affected ovals.
But Hobsons Bay mayor Leigh Hardinge said council officers were reviewing sporting teams’ access to ovals and would enter into further discussions with Western Jets officials as part of the review.
A council source, who asked not to be named, said the planned discussions followed Western Jets officials’ criticism of a report on which councillors based their decision.
“There was a feeling from Western Jets that we made our decision based on the (officer’s) report which said they would have to use the oval more than they actually would,” the source said.
The report stated that the Jets would need the oval for up to five nights a week starting this November after the club was squeezed out of its Caroline Springs base because of demand from other groups.
Western Jets regional manager Shane Sexton confirmed that the club was planning to meet council officers but refused to comment on the reasons for the meeting.
Cr Bill Baarini, the only councillor to vote in favour of welcoming the Jets, said Mr Sexton had approached him after the council decision two weeks ago.
“He rang to thank me for supporting their application and said he felt that there was more to their proposal that they wanted to bring to council’s attention,” he said.
“As a result I requested that we invite Mr Sexton to present to the council at a later stage.”
He said council had not ruled out accommodating the Jets on a short-term basis.
“But the issue is really about finding a permanent base for the team in the West,” Cr Baarini said.
“As someone who played footy for the Western Jets for three years, I know a lot about them and they’re an extremely professional organisation and they provide fantastic development opportunities for elite junior footballers,” he said.
