Essendon training facility.....

Address: 275 Melrose Dr, Melbourne Airport VIC 3045

12 kms from Windy Hill and 4k straight down Melrose Drive to terminal 3.

Essendon airport is on the other side of the freeway and 5k back the other way.

It is nowhere near the spiritual home of the Bombers at Windy Hill.

Anyway Casey is in the metropolis of Melbourne...

Edited May 12, 20196 yr by Diamond_Jim

7 minutes ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Essendon training facility.....

Address: 275 Melrose Dr, Melbourne Airport VIC 3045

12 kms from Windy Hill and 4k straight down Melrose Drive to terminal 3.

Essendon airport is on the other side of the freeway and 5k back the other way.

It is nowhere near the spiritual home of the Bombers at Windy Hill.

Anyway Casey is in the metropolis of Melbourne...

Casey is in the middle of Nowhere

if we locate out there we will die

WE NEED CITY PRESENCE

PJ said it. I have thought it for years. 

We have NEVER used our name correctly. 

We hold a great Ace, but have never played it. 

6 hours ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

Viable options that have been mooted over the years, that we must continue to explore.

1. Something at the Docklands. It is close to the city. Easy to travel by train to.

2. Don’t know what happened to it, but there was some talk about Elsternwick Park. Right geographical era.

3. Develop on the patch of vacant land next to Goschs Paddock. It’s big enough if smartly designed. It’d offer great exposure, as you could have branding visible to Punt Rd Traffic and the freeway traffic. Probably my preference if Yarra Park is out.

4. I’ve mentioned it before, but I’d be exploring Toorak Park. It’s next to a station. You can still allow Prahran juniors to play on the ground on weekends, which fulfills the community use criteria. Have an arrangement with Old Xavs who play there. There is some on street parking and a car park next door. However, building an underground parking space could be an option. I know two schools in the Stonnington area that are currently building car parks under their ovals. It can be done.

1.  Scarcity of land and competing developers will ensure the price of doing so is unobtainable...for us.

2.  Elsternwick Park?  OD says this has been looked at and rejected already by council.  Does anyone have anything concrete on this.  Could be an option if we turn the wick up? (yes pun intended).

3.  See No.1 above.

4.  Again see No.1 plus you will more than likely have locals up in arms rejecting any major development.  Good luck getting it through.  DJ suggests too small for a major development anyway?

5 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Time for you to just give up mate. 

No fight left in you. 

The MFC can grow again, but only with long term hard work. We need City presence to do it and i hope Pert and Bartlett have the Balls to realize that. 

Time will tell....

No we don't.  We lost it in the early 70s when we gave up our training at our home the G for Jolimont.  The fight to retain it should have happened then.  The club gave up the fight not OD! Fight over, we lost and the other clubs moved in, took their opportunities and have now outgrown us.  See the Hawks and Bombers also.  The Hawks aren't anywhere near their original roots and are about to move further out.   City area (within approx say 15 kms) unaffordable for us given our current size and presence (big end of town backing lacking etc).

4 hours ago, Sorry kids said:

Elsternwick Park should be seriously considered.

A possibility but have we / are we?

2 hours ago, old dee said:

It has been investigated, little room for expansion and evidently the local council has no desire for expansion as it smack in the middle of a residential area. 

Any more detail on who investigated and when OD?

2 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

Interesting that the Bombers have almost completely abandoned Windy Hill.

When I was there yesterday there was little signage or the like identifying it as Essendon. Sure a couple of the stands had the names of famous past players and some seats had the old... "reserved for Essendon past players and officials" stenciled on them but if you had not known the history it was just a suburban ground with a few more facilities than the old Brunswick Street ground occupied by Fitzroy all those years ago.

What I am trying to say is that the Bombers left their patch years ago.

It can be done.

Yes it can DJ!!  It's called vision and planning.  The MCC have not and will not be there for us.   Time to move on from the old romances of the 50s/60s.

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Essendrug have moved to Essendrug Airport, which is part of Essendrug last time i looked. 

We must grow a City Presence in the CBD of Melbourne, with Training facilities close to that proximity 

We have never grown it properly through Board incompetence and just lacking drive. 

Pert i hope can make a difference 

I don't think one man will change 50 years of going nowhere and not having a place to call home SW.  Maybe you know something i don't about what / who he is bringing with him that will help him achieve the unachievable over 5 decades now.

1 hour ago, Diamond_Jim said:

no they are at Tullamarine 12 kms from the old Windy Hill...think across the freeway from Gladstone Park... nothing remotely "Essendon" about the location

It is actually 9.5kms but yes they have still had the foresight to move away from their heartland and utilise cheaper land values heading 10kms further away from their original base and the CBD.  They also have a massive member / supporter base, especially at the top end including Govt support (both sides i believe?).

Edited May 12, 20196 yr by Rusty Nails

 

1 hour ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Essendrug have moved to Essendrug Airport, which is part of Essendrug last time i looked. 

We must grow a City Presence in the CBD of Melbourne, with Training facilities close to that proximity 

We have never grown it properly through Board incompetence and just lacking drive. 

Pert i hope can make a difference 

No it's not. Doesn't even border the suburb of Essendon. Strathmore is in between. Different postcode. 

More SWYL sweeping statements and alternative facts

46 minutes ago, Moonshadow said:

 

No it's not. Doesn't even border the suburb of Essendon. Strathmore is in between. Different postcode. 

More SWYL sweeping statements and alternative facts

It is almost right next to tulla airport not Essendon airport. Was out there Friday night a 2 minute drive to the terminal buildings.

Edited May 12, 20196 yr by old dee

i've got a couple of spare shoe boxes if the club is really interested

was good enough for me and my extended family when i was a young 'un

ah, those were the days......but you try and tell the young people today that ..... and they won't believe ya'

38 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

1.  Scarcity of land and competing developers will ensure the price of doing so is unobtainable...for us.

2.  Elsternwick Park?  OD says this has been looked at and rejected already by council.  Does anyone have anything concrete on this.  Could be an option if we turn the wick up? (yes pun intended).

3.  See No.1 above.

4.  Again see No.1 plus you will more than likely have locals up in arms rejecting any major development.  Good luck getting it through.  DJ suggests too small for a major development anyway?

No we don't.  We lost it in the early 70s when we gave up our training at our home the G for Jolimont.  The fight to retain it should have happened then.  The club gave up the fight not OD! Fight over, we lost and the other clubs moved in, took their opportunities and have now outgrown us.  See the Hawks and Bombers also.  The Hawks aren't anywhere near their original roots and are about to move further out.   City area (within approx say 15 kms) unaffordable for us given our current size and presence (big end of town backing lacking etc).

A possibility but have we / are we?

Any more detail on who investigated and when OD?

Yes it can DJ!!  It's called vision and planning.  The MCC have not and will not be there for us.   Time to move on from the old romances of the 50s/60s.

I don't think one man will change 50 years of going nowhere and not having a place to call home SW.  Maybe you know something i don't about what / who he is bringing with him that will help him achieve the unachievable over 5 decades now.

It is actually 9.5kms but yes they have still had the foresight to move away from their heartland and utilise cheaper land values heading 10kms further away from their original base and the CBD.  They also have a massive member / supporter base, especially at the top end including Govt support (both sides i believe?).

Elsternwick was investigated as part of the PJ instigated survey and what I wrote were the findings. What people need to understand is it was a very intensive study and nothing in inner Melbourne was suitable. There were two main failings to all the alternatives.

- the available land was not large enough to fit a G playing area ( or even close ) and there was no space for support building and parking.

- local and state government had no desire to allow changes to the area e.g. Elsternwick being in the middle of a concentrated housing area. As well the same bodies had no desire to consume public parklands. 

8 hours ago, Diamond_Jim said:

On a serious note the MCC have no interest in us at all save that if our attendances drop off and another club takes off .. say Carlton there will be pressure for us to play more games at alternative stadiums.

Where the mistake was made was that we should have demanded training rights at the MCG back in 1970 (?) or whenever we were forced out and then we could have leveraged that into a real facility.

it was 1985... 1984 we were denied training on the whole Mcg surface... with the Mcc roping off the entire cricket wicket centre with stick in posts and ropes....  no player was allowed in there whist training...  Only staff could go in to retrieve the often wayward footy.

so the players had to do circle work.

The Mcc were not aiding in any way noticeable...  and did not help with decent spaces to improve things,  like bigger gymnasium,  and other facilities. etc. 

They were a constant handbrake on Barassi's demon rebuild times.

 

http://demonwiki.org/Junction+Oval

4 hours ago, old dee said:

It has been investigated, little room for expansion and evidently the local council has no desire for expansion as it smack in the middle of a residential area. 

Not so in regard to residential area.It is part of a green area blueprint where the adjoining Golf course has been turned to passive recreation. Also adjoins a little used bowls club and tennis courts, so an ideal recreation-sporting precinct for cashed up residents. It may have been rejected but we need to persevere with available options and present convincing cases to benefit residents.

44 minutes ago, old dee said:

Elsternwick was investigated as part of the PJ instigated survey and what I wrote were the findings. What people need to understand is it was a very intensive study and nothing in inner Melbourne was suitable. There were two main failings to all the alternatives.

- the available land was not large enough to fit a G playing area ( or even close ) and there was no space for support building and parking.

- local and state government had no desire to allow changes to the area e.g. Elsternwick being in the middle of a concentrated housing area. As well the same bodies had no desire to consume public parklands. 

Good info Mr Old. I appreciate your nuanced input into the discussion

What ever happened to Melbourne uni grounds? It was spoken about and then nothing came of it.

 

7 minutes ago, deebug said:

What ever happened to Melbourne uni grounds? It was spoken about and then nothing came of it.o

 

Good question. There was an agreement signed wasn’t there ? I remember it being a done deal. Can anyone pull up the thread on this? 

 

Update. Here is the article https://m.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-01-28/back-to-school-for-melbourne

nothing to do with facilities.

although perhaps worth revisiting and seeing what could be done.

Edited May 12, 20196 yr by Leoncelli_36

1 hour ago, old dee said:

Elsternwick was investigated as part of the PJ instigated survey and what I wrote were the findings. What people need to understand is it was a very intensive study and nothing in inner Melbourne was suitable. There were two main failings to all the alternatives.

- the available land was not large enough to fit a G playing area ( or even close ) and there was no space for support building and parking.

- local and state government had no desire to allow changes to the area e.g. Elsternwick being in the middle of a concentrated housing area. As well the same bodies had no desire to consume public parklands. 

Thanks OD.  Elsternwick Park (football oval) option terminated.

6 minutes ago, Leoncelli_36 said:

Good question. There was an agreement signed wasn’t there ? I remember it being a done deal. Can anyone pull up the thread on this? 

No idea, but have you been to area of the Melbourne uni ground? 

The total area is not large and surrounded by uni buildings, I am a low level follower of Uni Blacks and I struggle with how we would get approval to effectively throw out both Uni Blacks and Uni Blues teams.

Stranger things may happen but I cannot see it.

 

2 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

Thanks OD.  Elsternwick Park (football oval) option terminated.

I am not trying to strangle all ideas RN , I am just giving the info I know. 

I would love one of the ideas to fly, the one thing I am very sure of is the MFC have throughly investigated all the options and it seems none are viable.

What they may be working on now I like everyone else have no idea.

I sincerely hope they can manufacture something in reasonable distance of the G which is our spiritual home.

It is just an extremely difficult objective.

2 minutes ago, old dee said:

I am not trying to strangle all ideas RN , I am just giving the info I know. 

I would love one of the ideas to fly, the one thing I am very sure of is the MFC have throughly investigated all the options and it seems none are viable.

What they may be working on now I like everyone else have no idea.

I sincerely hope they can manufacture something in reasonable distance of the G which is our spiritual home.

It is just an extremely difficult objective.

I hear you OD and a fairy tale would be nice.  But as we know....fairy tales rarely happen.

Old Dee, forgive me if you have mentioned this, but what did PJ say about the docklands option? Lots of space opp Costco, close to cbd and public transport, lots of building and infrastructure happening nearby. What are the impediments to this?

26 minutes ago, Rusty Nails said:

Thanks OD.  Elsternwick Park (football oval) option terminated.

MCG     Field size

171 m x 146 m

Elsternwick Park      165 m x 145m

You gotta wonder who does these survey reports.

1 minute ago, Sorry kids said:

MCG     Field size

171 m x 146 m

Elsternwick Park      165 m x 145m

You gotta wonder who does these survey reports.

I was about to say im surprised Elsternwick Park is not big enough. Its certainly one of the largest ovals Ive been on.

It regularly held 30,000 at Rock Dog games for 3RRR.  It now has new pavilions and is still just used sporadically for umpire training and VAFA game of the round (occasionally). It is close to train tram and Nepean Hwy. It is unloved by Bayside council as it is surrounded on most sides by Port Phillip. The other ovals and parkland are currently going through review. Where is the report you speak of, OD?

 

7 minutes ago, Damo said:

I was about to say im surprised Elsternwick Park is not big enough. Its certainly one of the largest ovals Ive been on.

It regularly held 30,000 at Rock Dog games for 3RRR.  It now has new pavilions and is still just used sporadically for umpire training and VAFA game of the round (occasionally). It is close to train tram and Nepean Hwy. It is unloved by Bayside council as it is surrounded on most sides by Port Phillip. The other ovals and parkland are currently going through review. Where is the report you speak of, OD?

 

Damo. My recollection is that it also had sufficient car spaces.  

Im not sure about this SK. I would imagine over 100 car parks would be needed for the club. Thats fine if you were going to park around the oval, a la country footy. But on the bitumen there is only room for a dozen IIRC.

The tigers are also looking for a new place maybe were waiting for them to move. And if they are we should jump at the chance. 

 

 

26 minutes ago, Damo said:

I was about to say im surprised Elsternwick Park is not big enough. Its certainly one of the largest ovals Ive been on.

It regularly held 30,000 at Rock Dog games for 3RRR.  It now has new pavilions and is still just used sporadically for umpire training and VAFA game of the round (occasionally). It is close to train tram and Nepean Hwy. It is unloved by Bayside council as it is surrounded on most sides by Port Phillip. The other ovals and parkland are currently going through review. Where is the report you speak of, OD?

 

The new training grounds involve two ovals and an aircraft hangar size internal training facility plus the gymnasium, pool and of course the admin facility.

You are speaking of major space.

4 minutes ago, deebug said:

The tigers are also looking for a new place maybe were waiting for them to move. And if they are we should jump at the chance. 

 

 

Interesting .. Tigers face exactly the same problem as us but they have money. Lot's of soul searching but they will bite the bullet in the next few years.

Why not get out in front of them.

Moving to Punt Road would probably not be a great idea as it represents the past albeit a slight upgrade on the present. I will wager you that the grandstand is heritage listed... would you like your club to train in yellow and black surrounds with the possibility of a giant tiger face on the roof.

While I don’t think it will even be considered I’m amazed that the Elsternwick park option has been ruled out. I used to live an easy 2 minute walk from the place from 1988 to 2006 which included the period of time when we actually trained there whilst junction oval was off limits to us.

if you jump on google maps and take a look at the place you will see the space available their is absolutely massive and it included a 9 hole golf course (now shut down) 2 footy ovals, tennis club, and a very large square of open fields.

If the will was there, one would assume you work out a deal with Elsternwick footy club to upgrade the existing main oval to be MCG size and utilize a parcel of land that is currently the defunct gold course for the admin buildings and upgrade the whole parkland area for local use.

Maybe too late however as council have plans I believe to do not a great deal with where the golf course was and then to tell the community how wonderful they are for doing it.