Robson – just over a month into the job – is determined to overhaul the Windy Hill precinct to provide the club with the best opportunity of securing on-field success.
The bold plan would also see the Windy Hill Oval reconfigured to a size similar to that of the MCG and Etihad Stadium.
But the broader community will also be a big winner if the club’s administration can secure the funding necessary to turn the vision into a reality.
The club plans to turn the existing football facilities into a community centre, in part to maintain the depth of its existing community programs but also to provide an administrative base for the Victorian branch of the Australian Paralympic Committee.
Club representatives will meet with the Federal Government in Canberra this month as part of the push to attract funding for the project. Discussions have also been held with the State Government and Moonee Valley City Council.
“This club owes it to its players, supporters and the broader community to get serious about developing a precinct that will carry this club forward for generations to come. This is an absolute priority,” Robson said.
“Winning games of football is our core business and this upgrade will enhance our ability to deliver and ultimately it is winning games of football that drives our key business strategies.
“A strong Essendon Football Club will also continue to play an important role in the community on a local level and more broadly.""
Last Friday the club unveiled its vision to tenant sporting clubs affected by the plans – the Essendon Cricket Club and the Essendon Bowls Club. The planned precinct development will mean both will need to be re-located.
The Essendon Cricket Club has been in discussions with the local council and Essendon Football Club for some time about a relocation to Fairbairn Park. Council is currently considering adopting a master plan that would see the cricket club re-locate to that venue.
“We spoke with tenants that will be affected by these plans because we want to be upfront and transparent about our plans and the reasons behind what we are trying to do,” Robson said.
“This is an elite-level sporting club. We are a national brand but equally we want to remain a vibrant and important part of Melbourne’s north-west, as we have been for more than 100 years. For that to happen, this vision must become a reality.
“The football team is being strangled in the current environment and that has to change – to be in the same position we are in now in two years time will be unacceptable.”
Over the past two decades, Essendon Football Club has invested more than $20 million into the Windy Hill precinct.
The development of a commercial gymnasium, substantial refurbishments to the Windy Hill Venue and surface management – including the installation of an underground 800,000 litre water-tank in partnership with the Federal Government - has comprised the majority of this spend.
In that period the football club has also acquired the Windy Hill Fitness Centre and merged its business with the Windy Hill Venue.
The integration of the Windy Hill Venue business and its improved profitability has enabled Essendon Football Club to provide upwards of $1.7 million in support to its affiliated sporting sections.
