LAVINGTON Oval's stranglehold on the Ovens and Murray Football-Netball League grand final is under serious threat with another parking issue arising.
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Albury's premier sporting venue has hosted the O and M's marquee day every year since 1995.
But in addition to parking restrictions put in place by the owner of the former Lavington Sports Club site, Albury Council is aiming to start work in July on creating a secondary playing oval on the land behind the main venue which has also been used for carparking on major event days.
Tenders closed this week for the project which includes major earth and civil works on the site at 745 Centaur Road.
It is the first stage of an overall $8 million redevelopment of the Lavington Oval due for completion in 2019.
“It’s expected that the majority of this area will not be available for carparking at any major events which will take place over the next 12 months,” a council spokesman said.
“This has been communicated with the Ovens and Murray FNL in respect of Lavington Oval potentially hosting the 2017 grand final.
“Albury Council has also recently purchased 721 Centaur Road which is the land to the east of 745 Centaur Road and this can provide sufficient overflow parking during construction.”
O and M chairman Graeme Patterson confirmed the league had not made a decision on this year's grand final venue and would be forced to look at other options if parking was going to be an issue at Lavington.
“If we are going to be restricted in the capacity to park people we will need to look at alternative arrangements,” he said.
“That is assuming the grand final is there, but no decision has been made yet.
“We may well need to sit down with the council and the owner if we do go to Lavington.”
The O and M has never paid for parking at Lavington on grand final day.
“I won't be saying no to anything until we find out a bit more,” Mr Patterson said.
Three years ago the sports club's former owners, the Panthers Group, wanted payment for parking on the land to offset rates being charged by council.
The grand final remained at Lavington when a deal was struck on the eve of the finals series.
The O and M grand final has traditionally attracted a crowd of more than 10,000 people, but last year dipped to less than 5000 with league officials blaming the major drop on wet weather.
Wangaratta Magpies have made repeated unsuccessful bids to host the grand final in the last decade.
The Norm Minns Oval was the last venue outside of Lavington to host the O and M grand final in 1994.
Albury and Yarrawonga are once again the likely grand final combatants with Wangaratta undergoing a resurgence this season to be sitting in third spot.