Flagstone Phoenix Brothers Rugby League Club players are concerned the group will start to lose members if a bigger training field is not provided soon.
Women’s team player Lisa Meader said she worried for the future of Flagstone Phoenix and wanted to know why the club was denied the right to borrow and use Tully Park, at North Maclean, by Logan City Council.
The Park Ridge mother-of-two’s sons, Levi and Cooper, have represented Flagstone Phoenix since April last year and will be coached by their dad, Ben Meader, in the 2017 under 6s team.
“While using the field at Flagstone State School is great, it would be even better if we could actually have a field to call our own,” she said.
“We’re a family club and we’re growing, and we could really use a hand from Logan City Council.”
Mrs Meader said she envied the growth and facilities of other nearby football clubs, and believed council treated Flagstone Pheonix as “second class”.
“I strongly believe if Jimboomba Thunder’s upgrades were not yet complete, the team would still be using Tully Park for practice and training,” she said.
“I could understand the field being unavailable for use if another team was training there or it was being used by another group, but there isn’t any and I can’t see why our club can’t borrow it.
“It would only be for a short time, and it would actually give us the chance to host home games and have barbecues for the kids without restrictions.”
Flagstone Phoenix president John Lilley said larger training fields would temporarily cater to a growth in numbers, while the club waited for a permanent sporting ground supplied by the Peet Group – the developer behind the Flagstone development.
“We’re at breaking point,” he said.
“We’ve got families coming from as far as Slacks Creek to play and the club will collapse if we don’t have a playing field.
“We haven’t asked much from council and we’ve received less than $3000 in funding over the last five years.”
Logan City’s division 11 councillor Trevina Schwarz said the Flagstone Phoenix committee’s request to use Tully Park was declined due to council’s investigations into future uses of the site.
“Until that investigation is completed and recommendations on future actions of the park are made, council can not offer exclusive tenure to Flagstone Phoenix or any other club or community group,” she said.
“At meetings between the club executive and council officers – with Mr Lilley present – council presented an interim solution for the club to use Shaw Street playing fields in Yarrabilba.
“This option was not taken up by Flagstone Phoenix.
“There are also possible opportunities for the club to use facilities at Flagstone College, which (the group) has not taken up.”
Cr Schwarz said council had provided Flagstone Phoenix with more than $30,000 in funding since the group’s inception in 2012.
“Council and its officers have, on numerous occasions, responded to the club’s calls for assistance,” she said.
“My personal efforts as the club’s divisional councillor have either been rejected or met with silence by the club’s leadership.
“For Mr Lilley to come out and claim the club is not being supported by council is untrue and an insult to Flagstone Phoenix members.”
The Peet Group did not provide comment, requested by the Times, in regards to when the Flagstone Phoenix’s new playing field will be available to the club.
