Council and Netball Facilities

2022 / 23 Update:

Following the Federal Election result in May 2022, the Liberal Coalition's funding commitment of $1.2million to BNA for our much needed facility upgrades LAPSED and has not been honoured by the incoming Labor Government or our new Federal Government Representative, Monique Ryan.

The funding commitment was made in 2018 and for the next 5 years we attempted to negotiate with Council to support the project which we had been advocating for since 2015. Following their decision in 2021 (below) to not grant us additional courts, we attempted to negotiate the lighting component of the project which they had agreed to. This was an unnecessarily complex and protracted process where unfortunately we were forced to engage a contractual lawyer to ensure the interests of the Boroondara Netball Association were protected. The final submission was signed by the Boroondara Council CEO & BNA in May; however this was too late following the election result.

Clearly without the $1.2 funding, we sincerely hope that Council will budget for the timely provision of appropriate and compliant lighting of our 8 courts for both the safety of our players and to enable us to increase available court space for our netball programs.

2021 Updates:

Boroondara Council vote "NO" to our fully-funded additional 4 courts & lighting on existing courts, essential to support our growth!

Thankyou to everyone who supported us in our advocacy for an additional 4 fully-funded netball courts - including the Boroondara Eagles Soccer Club! Thankyou especially to the Federal Government for recognising and supporting our needs with an election commitment of $1.2million to BNA for 4 additional courts & compliant lighting to enable us to grow and expand our pathway programs.

Unfortunately Council Officers packaged our proposal in a manner to ensure it was rejected, presenting court configurations / placements and inaccurate information to put residents and other tenant clubs offside. Councillors supported this process. Their ill-informed solutions to our need for growth included:

Playing our competition on Saturdays AND Sundays
Scheduling games outdoor at night during the week
Splitting the competition between satellite venues (site unknown) expecting parents to transport their kids to & fro to umpire, coach, play at different venues in the one day.

Regardless, we will continue to provide a fun, safe and fullfilling environment for our netballers to play sport, develop life skills / leadership opportunities and above all enjoy the camaraderie which our netball Association facilitates!

July 16	Letter from Mayor, Garry Tompson, to Josh Frydenberg requesting that the funding be re-directed for lighting and "amenities" but not for additional courts. Clearly this defeats the whole purpose of the funding to support the growth and development of the Boroondara Netball Association. We sincerely hope that the Federal Government recognise the tactics being used by Boroondara Council in their efforts to take possession of our $1.2mill funding grant. Letter to the Hon._Josh_Frydenberg_MP_re_Funding_commitment
June 26	Public Council Meeting: We were extremely disappointed that Council failed to present the Acknowledgment to Country. Sally Sherwen rectified this in her presentation. Speakers included: Netball Victoria: Nancy Da Silva - Facilities development manager (accompanied by NV CEO, Rosie King) BNA: Sally Sherwen & Bec Daniher - BNA netballers since our inception B Eagles Soccer Club: SUPPORTED our need for additional courts Scouts: apparently use Oval 5 for outdoor activities such as erecting tents; selling Xmas trees would be affected by traffic / parking (note: our season finishes in November) Fitness Club: apparently use Oval 5 for fitness activities (note: they also use our netball courts whithout charge for their activities, even featured on their website) Various local residents who,quite understandably, were concerned after seeing the "proposal" put forward by Council Following reports from 13 people, Felicity Sinfield presented a pre-prepared motion which Councillors had received but we had not. This was moved by Council (surprise, surprise!) so the whole evening was irrelevant Minutes - Services 2021-06-28_A8170269.
June23	Council Officers release their report to Councillors - once again full of inaccuracies, skewed data & mis-representations - ultimately rejecting our needs. Interestingly the "proposal" they put forward on our behalf was manufactured by them and did not reflect our proposal. Click here
June 6	Survey requested from Council: "We would like to hear from the BNA committee on the implementation and likely impacts of this funding on the users of the Myrtle and Macleay Park including BNA, other sporting clubs, users of open space and surrounding residents." Boroondara Netball Association Feedback questions & answers
June 6	Article in the Sunday Herald Sun, June 6, by Susie O'Brien featuring our players from Canterbury, Koonung and Kew District Netball Clubs!
May 26	BEFC (Soccer club) present their Macleay Park "masterplan" to Council, including a synthetic surface on Oval 3, pavilion and 2 netball courts, subsequently revised to include 4 netball courts.
May 25	Information provided by Council to the community regarding our submission = community consultation survey Information-Sheet-BNA-Myrtle-and-Macleay-Parks-Consultation-2021-05-25_002.pdf Much of the information presented in this document is mis-leading or false. Mis-representation of facts.pdf - from BNA to Councillors

Final Data & Findings submission to Council, Feb 2020

Click here

Netball in Boroondara
History of BNA
BNA Vision, Mission & Core Values
BNA Strategic Direction & Alignment
Needs Analysis
Usage Table
Benchmarking & Comparative Management Models
GAP analysis
Investments, Council Themes & Guiding Principles

Eastern Metro Boroondara LGA Snapshot_2019

Boroondara LGA Snapshot 2020

Open letter from BNA to Council, Sept 1, 2020

Letter outlining our significant concerns relating to the lack of communication, process and transparency relating to this issue:

Click LETTER to Council
Click Timeline Summary 2015 - current
- See documents referred to below
- More detailed history below

Background documents:

Boroondara Sport & Recreation Strategy, April 2016: Click here

Myrtle and Macleay Park Management Plan, June 2018: Click here

Netball Victoria Statewide Facilities Strategy 2017: Click here

an independent report commissioned by the State Government, identifying the City of Boroondara as lacking appropriate facilities to cater for netball participation & growth in the area stating the significant need for outdoor lit courts in Boroondara. The Eastern Metropolitan Zone Profile provides Boroondara data comparing neighbouring LGAs for reference

Sport Australia State of Play Report, April 2019: Click State of Play Report - Netball