News Albury council denies Storm NRL training

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Albury council denies Storm NRL training
By Melissa Woods

May 5, 2020

Melbourne’s return to NRL training is in disarray after Albury council voted that the club can not use the border town’s sporting facilities.

The local council held an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday night after the arrival of 50 Storm players and staff into Albury, with concerns raised about the potential health risk.

The councillors passed a motion that council facilities, including the home of the local rugby league club, Greenfields Park, should not be made available to the NRL club.

With the councillors voting five to four, the Storm will now have to source a privately owned sports ground or move to a completely new location.

Melbourne were set to stay in Albury at least until Friday, with the club saying the visiting party would be completely isolated from the general community.

The plan had NSW government approval but some councillors said it smacked of “double standards” given the restrictions on the general community.
 

Papa Emeritus

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So my understanding is the council voted against this because they think it is a double standard that the Storm players are being allowed to do things other citizens cannot?

Seems pretty dumb to me, I would think the Storm coming to Albury would only do good things for that shithole.
 

Raysie

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Tamworth and its population are loving the fact an NRL side is calling their town home. Warriors are supposedly going to return the favor by playing a game there when crowds return.

Then you've got this council at Albury that just have no care about the growth of its city. Well let's be honest... Albury died years ago when people started flying everywhere.

Something smells funny about this though. I wouldnt be surprised if there's AFL sympathisers in the council there that have made this difficult.

Oh well either way the Storm will train on the private AFL field they have. Albury should consider themselves lucky they have the Storm there.
 

hayes

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Just a local council trying to make themselves relevant. Especially after the Feds and state have given them clearance.
 

SPEARTAKVIDREFS

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Seems strange. Lived in Albury for a couple of years, great place. Youd think now with the bypass theyd take up the opportunity to bring dollars into the town.
 

Flanagun

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So my understanding is the council voted against this because they think it is a double standard that the Storm players are being allowed to do things other citizens cannot?

Seems pretty dumb to me, I would think the Storm coming to Albury would only do good things for that shithole.
What good could it possibly do? It’s not like it’s going to provide a boost to the economy in the current climate.... and they are right in calling out that double standard. It’s insane that the NRL has been allowed to resume competition. Crazy shit.
 

Alan79

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The local AFL team the Albury Tigers football club have incredibly offered for the Storm to use their privately-owned facility for as long as they need.

https://www.news.com.au/sport/nrl/m...s/news-story/0b7869332954e60ebc9f85e528c6b7a0
Bellamy actually raises a pretty valid point in the article. I expect to see a high injury toll in the early stages due to the short lead up to the resumed season. I don't think that the majority of players will have retained anything close to the fitness gained from the regular pre-season training schedule.
 

CroydonDog

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Or perhaps you should do your homework and get approval before you rock up to the most convenient town with 50 people demanding for doors to be opened because you are the mighty Melbourne Storm (who? Asks most people in Albury).

The Tamworth/Warriors situation is completed different. Negotiations took place over a period of time, and all the boxes were ticked first, including at all government levels and, or course their hosts, Wests Leagues.
 

Kaz

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Or perhaps you should do your homework and get approval before you rock up to the most convenient town with 50 people demanding for doors to be opened because you are the mighty Melbourne Storm (who? Asks most people in Albury).

The Tamworth/Warriors situation is completed different. Negotiations took place over a period of time, and all the boxes were ticked first, including at all government levels and, or course their hosts, Wests Leagues.
Well they don't need approval now.

It's backfired on the know all councillors that voted no to them.
 

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What good could it possibly do? It’s not like it’s going to provide a boost to the economy in the current climate.... and they are right in calling out that double standard. It’s insane that the NRL has been allowed to resume competition. Crazy shit.
Plenty of good. A town like Albury which used to have everyone driving through it now has most of those people bypassing it on the newish hwy. It would get people talking about Albury at the very minimum.

Maybe it wouldn't have a massive positive effect but it would not be negative.

I get that it is an AFL dominated town, but would their residents really be angry about a sports team being able to gather together and break protocols even though they are quarantined amongst themselves? Any resident sitting there stewing about that is stupid. It is no different to a large family who all live together being able to be together without socially distancing.
 

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Plenty of good. A town like Albury which used to have everyone driving through it now has most of those people bypassing it on the newish hwy. It would get people talking about Albury at the very minimum.

Maybe it wouldn't have a massive positive effect but it would not be negative.

I get that it is an AFL dominated town, but would their residents really be angry about a sports team being able to gather together and break protocols even though they are quarantined amongst themselves? Any resident sitting there stewing about that is stupid. It is no different to a large family who all live together being able to be together without socially distancing.
Exactly. If they don't like the NRL or the team then they don't need to attend. But certainly having a professional team in their town is not a negative thing.
 

Flanagun

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Plenty of good. A town like Albury which used to have everyone driving through it now has most of those people bypassing it on the newish hwy. It would get people talking about Albury at the very minimum.

Maybe it wouldn't have a massive positive effect but it would not be negative.

I get that it is an AFL dominated town, but would their residents really be angry about a sports team being able to gather together and break protocols even though they are quarantined amongst themselves? Any resident sitting there stewing about that is stupid. It is no different to a large family who all live together being able to be together without socially distancing.
Large family gatherings of that size are still not permitted anyway, but I don't see how it is anything like a large family, tbh....it's a professional environment...and given a lot of people are still working at home, the idea of 50 out of towners training for a physical contact sport in their town might cause a few people to scratch their heads.

It probably wouldn't do the town any major harm....it might encourage a few idiots to break social distancing measures or even to head down to the oval to try to sneak a peak of the action....I'd imagine it would probably require police resources to keep curious people away.

I'n not saying it would have a huge impact, but all of these considerations need to be taken into account and the storm may well have had more success if they had gone through the proper processes of scouting and receiving approval to use a venue rather than just expecting a council to agree to their requirements.

It looks like a private club has stepped in and offered its facilities anyway, but I hardly think it's the council's fault. It's not unreasonable of them to have some doubts about such a proposal.....especially if the club hasn't really done the necessary legwork to make sure all necessary boxes were ticked in relation to their request.
 

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Kinda of not surprised Albury have told them to piss off given Addo-Carr not giving 2 shits about health orders and then trying to play the race card afterwards instead of taking responsibility.
 

Papa Emeritus

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Large family gatherings of that size are still not permitted anyway, but I don't see how it is anything like a large family, tbh....it's a professional environment...and given a lot of people are still working at home, the idea of 50 out of towners training for a physical contact sport in their town might cause a few people to scratch their heads.

It probably wouldn't do the town any major harm....it might encourage a few idiots to break social distancing measures or even to head down to the oval to try to sneak a peak of the action....I'd imagine it would probably require police resources to keep curious people away.

I'n not saying it would have a huge impact, but all of these considerations need to be taken into account and the storm may well have had more success if they had gone through the proper processes of scouting and receiving approval to use a venue rather than just expecting a council to agree to their requirements.

It looks like a private club has stepped in and offered its facilities anyway, but I hardly think it's the council's fault. It's not unreasonable of them to have some doubts about such a proposal.....especially if the club hasn't really done the necessary legwork to make sure all necessary boxes were ticked in relation to their request.
I said a large family who all live together, you know like families who have many children, grandparents etc all under the one roof.

I still don't see the issue with this at all anyway, I highly doubt a majority of Albury were against it, it is more likely just the 5 or so councillors who felt like flexing a bit. What the council has done here has achieved absolutely nothing anyway, if all of the things you said might happen from this, they will anyway because the Storm are still in Albury and just training on an AFL oval instead of the council owned rectangle field.
 

Flanagun

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I said a large family who all live together, you know like families who have many children, grandparents etc all under the one roof.

I still don't see the issue with this at all anyway, I highly doubt a majority of Albury were against it, it is more likely just the 5 or so councillors who felt like flexing a bit. What the council has done here has achieved absolutely nothing anyway, if all of the things you said might happen from this, they will anyway because the Storm are still in Albury and just training on an AFL oval instead of the council owned rectangle field.
Reagrdless of the number of people living under one roof, families living in their own homes is not comparable to a sporting club asking to use a council owned space without going through a rigorous application process.

I really don't get why you are criticising councillors and accusing them of "flexing". A number of factors have to be taken into account. The warriors were careful to tick all boxes and make sure their facilities were secured well ahead of time. It sounds like The Storm just flounced in expecting the council to give them everything they wanted.

Just because the council can't control what private clubs choose to do with their facilities doesn't mean the right decision wasn't made. Councillors have every right to determine who uses their grounds. I suppose there would be some economic benefits of players and staff staying, eating and shopping in the area, but that has to be weighed up against concerns of extra police resources that need to be spent, concerns that players may break social isolation guidelines, that they might act up on the piss or that visitors and staff members from another area might unwittingly bring more cases of the virus to the area. If given proper time to process the request and weigh up the pros and cons, a different decision might have been reached, but there are a number of reasons why councillors might want any application process to be more thorough and considered.

The Storm is just lucky a private club decided to step in. Now the town will still receive an economic boost and if something does go wrong, the council can argue they didn't support the move and shield themselves from any criticism. Maybe this was their plan all along....lol.
 

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If there were other reasons other than the "double standards" reason they have not made them public so I can't see why there would be other reasons. If some other kind of application process was followed it would not change the perceived double standards anyway. Sounds like you are just reaching for ways to make the council seem like they did something beneficial for their town when there really isn't any actual clear benefits to how it has turned out.
 

Kaz

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The council probably expected the Storm to say, we will pay etc.
 

Motorhead

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Fuck the Storm.
Shittiest maggot club in the comp (along with Easts and Souths). Give 'em nothing.
 
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