By CAMERON LUCADOU-WELLS
SPORTS clubs have been forced to find new homes after being bounced out of the former Endeavour Hills Secondary College gymnasium.
The Flames Futsal competition, one of several sports competitions that used the gym, has been defunct since moving out last December when the school closed.
Former organiser John Myska said he could not find an alternative venue nearby, so some of its players — as well as its goals, cones and bibs — have defected to the closest competition, Bayside Pirates in Cheltenham.
“There’s a shortage of courts in the area. It seems most of them get monopolised by basketball,” Mr Myska said.
An Afghan volleyball group, karate and basketball groups also used the gym. “It was a crying shame to lose it. It was pretty much used every night of the week except Saturdays,” Mr Myska said.
Last year, departing Endeavour Hills Secondary College principal Barbara Motherside spoke out on the loss of the gym, also used by nearby James Cook Primary School.
She said Casey Council should buy it to preserve the “community facility”.
Casey chief executive Mike Tyler told the Journal last year the stadium was owned by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and had been open to the community in a “joint use agreement”.
“Inquiries about the building should be referred to DEECD,” Mr Tyler said.
A department spokesman said the gymnasium would remain closed because of “extensive issues relating to security, safety, public liability and maintenance”.
He said a gymnasium at Doveton College would be available for sports groups to hire later this year. The department is assessing possible uses for the school site.
Last month, a spokesman said the department was selling off 35 school sites in Victoria’s south-east — part of a 192-school statewide sale.
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