Historic National Premier Leagues Victoria side Port Melbourne Sharks have seen their successful application to be a training venue host for the upcoming 2023 Women’s World Cup unexpectedly retracted by the City of Port Phillip Council (CoPP).
A statement issued by the Sharks and former A-League Men’s midfielder George Mells sparked significant uproar from the Australian football community over the weekend, referring to recent challenges that have been faced by Port Melbourne.
As Mells outlined, Port Melbourne were initially announced by FIFA as a successful applicant to host a women’s international side for the tournament next year. Their bid was further supported by assurances provided by CoPP of their intention to invest in Port Melbourne’s facilities at their home ground, JL Murphy Reserve, and to bring their pitches up to the standard needed to keep women and girls playing sport, particularly with the sharks fielding a senior women’s side themselves.
CoPP had agreed to accepting conditions and had three years to put required upgrades into place that added up to $700,000. However, CoPP unexpectedly withdrew their interest last week without alerting Port Melbourne. In addition, Port Melbourne have been advised that further upgrades to the remaining pitches has been pushed back 3-6 years with no clear deadline set in what comes as an unprecedented blow for the club whose need for facility upgrades stretches back 20 years.
Having coordinated and sought selection as a training venue host via an extensive collaborative process, it was seemingly assured that the City of Port Phillip Council were set to install the upgrades needed for Port Melbourne Sharks to accommodate an international side for the tournament.
“The Port Melbourne Sharks and City of Port Phillip Council worked collaboratively well together over a period of time to be successful in being selected as a training venue for the upcoming 2023 Women’s World Cup. Unfortunately, only three days ago via a quick catch-up meeting, I was informed that the facility had been removed as a training venue – much to my bemusement and surprise. I then had the unfortunate job of having to inform our women’s group that all of the hard work that was done has been taken away because of council’s decision to remove the venue as a training venue for the Women’s World Cup,” Club President Bill Romanovski said in an interview with Soccerscene.
Adding to the confusion and uncertainty of the situation is the fact that the City of Port Phillip Council have failed to provide adequate documentation to support the reasoning behind the removal of Port Melbourne as a venue host.
“We still haven’t had that information released to us. The information that I was given over last week’s Zoom meeting with CoPP was allegedly that FIFA supplied a report that had items to be attended to by the City of Port Phillip that weren’t able to be achieved. We’ve been asking for a copy of this report to be supplied by the council in which they haven’t be able to furnish us with. That would be the easiest way to discover what these items were, but the council haven’t been forthcoming,” Romanovski added.
“At our meeting on Sunday at the ground there were some of the councillors (including the mayor), and the women’s group and ourselves requested a copy of the report because we can then discover what these items were and why the council couldn’t do them.
“But to go back a bit, I’d be surprised if there were such onerous conditions imposed by FIFA because we were present in all of those meetings in regards to what had to be done for the facility, and the facility had to be maintained in order with the inspection that they carried out back in 2021. Then in January 2022 representatives from Labosport and FIFA informed council that they needed to continue with their ongoing maintenance to keep the ground and conditions suitable, and the council also agreed to upgrade and refurbish the changerooms to be far more female-friendly.
“Without a copy of this report that they relied on to make this decision, we’re a bit in the dark to be honest.”
To add further weight to Port Melbourne’s efforts to retain their spot as training venue hosts and to subsequently bring greater economic growth, foot traffic and jobs to the Port Phillip municipality during next year’s World Cup, a statement was released by Nina Taylor – Parliamentary Secretary for Health, Labor in the Southern Metro Region – reiterating the support of the Andrews Labor Government for Port Melbourne.
“This is a massive blow to the local community and the future of women’s sport,” the statement from Ms. Taylor read.
“Hosting as a training ground for the Women’s World Cup is a coup and it’s imperative Council decisions about JL Murphy Reserve are genuinely informed by the Port Melbourne community.”
The evident support of the Andrews Labor Government for Port Melbourne’s situation adds another layer of confusion to the CoPP Council’s decision, a facet Romanovski can attest to.
“As a football club and as a board, the Port Melbourne Sharks united and got behind our women’s group. We certainly rallied and supported them in their vision to make an application. We engaged with council and expressed that our women’s team really wanted to put forward our facility as a training venue, which would leave a legacy behind and improve some of our conditions on site so that we can engage with more women and young girls to play football, and they were very supportive.
“We worked tirelessly to deliver a great submission to FIFA which was accepted. The inspections were carried out and we were selected and announced as a successful bidder. On one hand the council indicate that they support women in sport and on the other hand they have ripped it away. I don’t want to make light of the issue because I think it’s horrendous what’s happened here – the facility was selected and now it’s not.
“It’s really disappointing also that council had plenty of time to sort funding even if there are conditions in respect to drainage and lighting requirements, the women’s group including the club made some enormous efforts to visit ministers and the Victorian government who we held very good meetings with. I can quote the Chief of Staff, ‘Get your council to apply for funding. Make an application’. I don’t know what further work our group could do to find that council did not seek any funding is extremely disappointing. It’s actually gut-wrenching.
“I feel for our women’s group. I feel for our community part of our football club. We won’t have the benefit of legacy of what could have been left behind as a result of hosting a Women’s World Cup team training at our ground.”
The 2023 Women’s World Cup will bring together 32 nations before a global audience of more than one billion people. In February this year it was announced that JL Murphy Reserve would be one of 13 venues across Australia, selected by the world body for football, to host as a training site. Undeniably, the financial benefit of the month-long tournament to a host council is clear and obvious.
“According to Mayor Marcus Pearl on Sunday he informed the women’s group, our members and myself that the council officers had received a report from FIFA and containing that report were onerous requirements. One being drainage, and the second one being upgrading of flood lighting. And as a result of the cost that they carried and the timing that they needed to carry it out they decided to pull out. It does surprise me that a council officer made that decision, it wasn’t the councillors or the mayor. The mayor was surprised that the decision had been made, but they made this decision based on a report that they had received. No one’s seen this report and it would surprise me that after all of these meetings that FIFA would change the goalposts so dramatically that our submission would become obsolete,” Romanovski said.
“It doesn’t only affect this football club; it affects the business community around Port Phillip. The cafés, pubs, hotels and retail outlets – the economic impact and flow-on effect of having a team here would be enormous. It’s surreal and doesn’t make common sense because due process hasn’t been followed.
“Our membership got right behind this initiative. Within our football club we raised enough money to refurbish the club house because council didn’t have the funds to do it. We rallied and raised the funds to install an electrical scoreboard because it presents better to not only our football club but to FIFA, and I think that work contributed to being successful bidders. And whilst the work doesn’t go to waste because we have a new scoreboard and better clubhouse, the bigger picture is missed.”
