Community sporting clubs on Hobart’s eastern shore want local councillors and election candidates to sign a pledge of support, saying rising costs and ageing facilities are putting clubs at financial risk.
Representatives from sporting clubs across the Clarence municipality agreed to the pledge at a recent meeting.
The group, Clarence Community Sporting Clubs, says more than 25,000 players, volunteers and families are involved in local clubs.
Spokesperson Tom Darke of Clubs Tasmania said the not-for-profit, volunteer-run clubs felt the Clarence City Council was “treating them like a commercial operation”.
He said several recent council decisions, including restrictions on advertising, had prompted the clubs to band together.
“After years of feeling taken for granted, bossed around and used as a cash cow, these clubs, which provide so much service and community benefit to the municipality, have taken a stand,” he said.
Darke told Pulse some Clarence clubs were paying three times as much as clubs in other Tasmanian council areas, which he described as “just ridiculous”.
“We’re not attacking councillors or candidates. We’re simply just asking for their support,” he said.
The group believes that if enough successful candidates sign the pledge, elected members could direct the council executive to “reset their approach and put clubs at the centre of decision making”.
Darke said rising fees would eventually be passed on to members, potentially making it harder for some parents to afford to keep their children in sport.
He also said some facilities were “in dying need of” improvement.
“Where are these clubs gonna be in two to five years with these price increases?” he said.
The clubs will hold a public forum at Clarence District Cricket Club in Kangaroo Bay at 2pm on Sunday, with members of the public and all council candidates invited.
The Clarence City Council was contacted for comment.
