Here we go again. The Hun is frothing at the mouth about soccer on page 3 of today's issue, complaining that a historic footy club (Moonee Valley Football Club) is being threatened by the encroachment of the round-ball game. In many ways it repeats the complaints through the ages that "soccer is taking our grounds". It observes that "junior footy clubs everywhere wage a fight for territory against the 'world game'."
I've written about the Toorak Park episode in 1954 when the same arguments were being mobilised. Soccer wanted to share the grounds; footy wanted sole possession.
And of course it's largely rubbish. It's a beat up aimed to stir emotion. The council is merely investigating the options to allow soccer to expand to meet its demand; while the article promotes the idea of code war. Rather than "soccer threatens to oust juniors" it might have simply gone with "council considers options". The content differs from the headline and the confrontational pose in the photo. The problem is many readers will have formed their views on the piece simply from the headline and image. The damage has already been done, no matter how 'balanced' the content.
The content is not particularly balanced in any case. Unbelievably it makes no mention of the current co-tenant of Ormond Park, Essendon Royals Football (soccer) Club, whose membership dwarfs MVFC and makes it possibly the biggest sporting club in the region.
Radio station 3AW went with "Footy clubs threatened as Soccer soars". It warns that "More children in Victoria are playing soccer than our beloved Aussie Rules [which is simply not true] and the repercussions have begun."
The bottom line is that there are not enough sportsgrounds in the Moonee Valley district and at present they are allocated inefficiently. A process of rationalisation needs to occur. Footy needs to give a bit; soccer needs to be prepared to be flexible. The council has expressed a preference for Ormond Park to have sole occupancy. In all likelihood MVFC will get this (as is appropriate) and Essendon Royals will be shifted to a more suitable playing space like say Fairbairn Park.
As a summer game, cricket is just irrelevant to the issue.
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