TULLAMARINE has been revealed as the new home of the Essendon Football Club, after the Bombers announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art training facility at Melbourne Airport last week.
The Bombers will shift their training base from their ancestral home in Windy Hill to Melrose Drive to cater for the club’s future growth.
The elite sporting and community facility will be developed in partnership with the Australian Paralympic Committee and will include two training ovals, one the size of the MCG, the other the equivalent of Etihad Stadium.
Built on a massive 100,000 square metre site, the facility will also include a high-tech gym, along with medical, recovery and IT facilities.
Essendon chairman David Evans said the Bombers would continue to use Windy Hill as an alternative training base, along with club and community facilities.
The club had previously considered Keilor Park Recreation Reserve as a possible location for the new facility.
Mr Evans said the proposed development would deliver significant long-term benefits for the club from a football and community perspective.
“We believe that this decision to grow the Essendon Football Club by expanding the club’s facilities is a bold and strong ambition to help take our great club back to where we belong on top of the ladder,” Mr Evans said.
“The essence of Essendon can never be contained by a location.”
Keilor Park Football Club president Adam Papal said the club had been disappointed the Bombers would not be moving in to Brimbank.
“We had been really excited about the prospect of Essendon Football Club using Keilor Park Recreation Reserve so we were naturally disappointed that they won’t be coming here,” Mr Papal said.
“It would have been great for both the community and the club and lifted the profile of the precinct.
“But we take it as a positive that they even considered Keilor Park as a possible location and we still think that the move to Melbourne Airport will be of benefit to the community and raise the profile of the area.”
Essendon is expected to make the move by February 2013.
