Toowoomba sports clubs anxious $80 million stadium upgrade for 2032 Olympics will spell their end

toowoomba sports clubs anxious $80 million stadium upgrade for 2032 olympics will spell their end

Matley Ouellet, aged 14, wants to get other young people to play lawn bowls. (Supplied: Christina McMullan)

Fourteen-year-old lawn bowls player Matley Ouellet is angry and spoiling for a fight, but it is not on the bowling green.

The Toowoomba year 9 student and hundreds of other amateur sports club members are embroiled in a David and Goliath battle that’s threatening to tear the community apart.

Their beloved Toowoomba Bowls Club and Range Tennis Club are at risk of being swallowed up by redevelopment plans for the 2032 Brisbane Olympics.

They fear the plans will bulldoze their rich sporting legacy.

“We can’t tear them down,” Matley said.

“All of these clubs are over 100 years old and have an important history.”

The Toowoomba Bowls Club was established in 1900, while the tennis club dates back to 1893 and is considered Queensland’s oldest tennis club.

Both sit behind the Clive Berghofer Stadium, which is set to have its permanent capacity doubled to 5,000 seats to cater for Olympic events, along with an extra 10,000 temporary seats.

It was announced last year as part of a $935 million joint federal and state funding package with the works expected to take place closer to 2028.

The Toowoomba stadium upgrade is now under the microscope as part of former Brisbane Lord Mayor Graham Quirk’s 60-day review of Olympic venues in Queensland, sparked by controversy surrounding the Gabba rebuild.

The tennis club has seized the opportunity to make a last-ditch appeal.

“Any proposed relocation would also be the death knell for our club,” the club said in its submission to the review.

“This proposed redevelopment undermines public confidence in Queensland hosting the Olympic and Paralympic 2032 Games.”

Accusations of lies

The furore over the redevelopment has boiled over into local council chambers with accusations of lies flying thick and fast.

Mr Quirk has asked the Toowoomba Regional Council to make a submission outlining the benefits of the stadium upgrade.

The submission closes on Tuesday, but the council’s staff has already reminded it of what is at stake.

“Not providing a positive submission could potentially be perceived as being unsupportive of the opportunity to be a part of Brisbane Olympics 2032, which could result in the opportunity being lost altogether,” parks and recreation manager Sally Egan said in a written document.

In its submission to the review, the council forecast economic benefits of about $2.35 million per day to Toowoomba during the Olympics.

“[This is about] allowing generations to come to have something they can aspire to,” Councillor Carol Taylor said.

But in a fiery speech to chambers, retiring Councillor Nancy Sommerfield called the submission a “lie”.

“Legacy isn’t only about the positives. It’s about the negatives,” she said.

“It’s important that be included in this submission … that three historical clubs are going to be possibly lost forever.

“It’s a lie. It does not include the whole story. It’s misleading.”

Clubs disappointed

Toowoomba Bowls Club treasurer Michael Hanna felt his community had been betrayed.

“The council had a moment in time to put forward a meaningful submission for the legacy of Toowoomba and they sat on their hands and looked at it through rose-coloured glasses,” he said.

“The be-all and end-all is the Olympics. There is a gun to their heads. Either they get the Olympics here or nothing. It’s very frustrating.”

Final decision rests with government

The final decision on the stadium upgrade rests with the Queensland government, which owns the venue.

A spokeswoman for State Development Minister Grace Grace said the government had “made it clear” the games were both “cost-effective and would leave a legacy”.

“The review is independent and has a wide-ranging brief to examine the proposed venues and consider alternatives,” she said.

“The review has welcomed submissions from interested parties, including sporting bodies and city councils.

“The government will not influence nor pre-empt any findings or recommendations by the review panel.”

Members of both sports clubs fear the writing is on the wall with their three-year leases reduced to yearly and geotechnical studies already underway on their sites.

Young player Matley Ouellet is starting up a new program to bring primary school students into lawn bowls.

In his own submission to the review, he wrote that he just wanted somewhere for them to keep playing.

“It seems like this wasn’t done with the community’s thoughts at heart,” he said.

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