By LIAM TWOMEY
OLD Westbourne is looking for a new base for its juniors in 2014.
The club has been told it can no longer run its junior program out of Westbourne Grammar School because of the wear and tear on the school’s oval.
Old Westbourne president Graeme Clark and his committee have started working with Wyndham council to find the new home ground.
However, as Clark explained last week, a change of location is just the beginning.
“We will also be changing names,” he said.
“The school has also told us that with the juniors going off site, the juniors can’t use the Old Westbourne name. They (the school) believe it is their name and their reputation on the line.
“We are actively looking at a few names that have been suggested by some parents.
“As soon as we find out about the oval we will be able to make some announcements on the venue where we will be playing and hopefully the club colours and what the jumper is going to look like.”
The Old Westbourne senior teams, which compete in the Victorian Amateur Football Association, have been told they can continue to play at the school next season.
However, Clark said the club might be looking to move its senior team to a new location as well.
“At the moment we still have groups working with the school to try and accommodate the senior group staying there,” he said.
“The restrictions that are being put on the playing group are quite difficult to manage to be successful.
“We are looking at different options. Whether we go as a whole club or whether we start as a new club and become a junior club.
“That is not the preferred option. You spend a lot of time, effort and money building these kids up and training these kids only for them to get to a certain age level and go to another club that gets the benefit of all your hard work.”
Clark also ruled out merging with any current western suburbs clubs.
“We will be a standalone club,” he said.
“We will be out there actively recruiting people for whichever area we get allocated.”
