Media Response Gardiners Reserve and Mount Waverley City SC

Questions and Responses

I've been approached by the Mt Waverley City Soccer Club to do another story on their situation with their home pitch at Gardiners Reserve. I realise the situation has been ongoing for a few years now, so I was just wondering if there's any light council can shed on what's happening? Or any possible compromise in the works?

Council was approached by Mount Waverley Football Club this week to host a senior FFA cup game on the synthetic pitch at Gardiners Reserve on Sunday 15 March 2020.

We had previously met with club officials on 28 February 2020 to re-affirm its position to limit the number of senior men’s teams using the pitch. This action is an attempt to balance the needs of the two clubs sharing the facility and the impact on residential amenity in the surrounding area.

When the club approached us to host the 15 March game at Gardiners Reserve, we instead offered the synthetic football pitch at Jack Edwards Reserve as an alternate venue to minimise the use of Gardiners Reserve for senior men’s matches.

Council appreciates it is not always possible to accommodate the training and match venue requirements of all teams based at the reserve, and as such is planning to upgrade facilities at alternative venues to help improve the quality of football pitches to accommodate the needs of both clubs into the  future.

We continue to work with officials from both clubs to better understand and accommodate training and match day requirements whilst maintaining a balance for community use and residential amenity.

Issued: 13 March 2020
To: Monash Leader
Quoting: Mayor, Councillor Stuart James