Melbourne have been forced to hastily change their Albury training plans after local council voted that the NRL club could not use the border town’s council-run sporting facilities.
The council held an extraordinary meeting on Tuesday night after the arrival of 50 Storm players and staff into Albury, with concerns raised about the potential health risk.
The councillors passed a motion that council facilities, including the home of the local rugby league club, Greenfields Park, should not be made available to the Storm.
With the councillors voting five to four, Melbourne had to source a ground not managed by the council, use a privately owned sports facility or move to a completely new location.
They are expected to move to the Albury Sports Ground, which is the home of the local AFL club, which is privately owned.
Melbourne are set to stay in Albury at least until Friday, with the club saying the visiting party would be completely isolated from the general community.
The plan had NSW government approval but some councillors said it smacked of ‘‘double standards’’ given the restrictions on the general community.
One of the most vocal opponents to the Storm using the council ground was Deputy Mayor Amanda Cohn, who is a local doctor.
‘‘It’s an unacceptable double standard,’’ she said.
‘‘Many of our residents have made tremendous sacrifices to keep the rates so low in Albury-Wodonga and we’ve only had 11 cases.
‘‘People have lost their jobs .. they’re unable to participate in their own community sport, they’re unable to attend weddings and funerals and I think it’s a slap in the face to people who have been doing the right thing for weeks to allow 50 people from Melbourne to come and use our public facilities.’’
Cr Murray King warned that the Storm would never return to Albury if they were banned from the facilities.
‘‘Those councillors who think the Melbourne Storm will ever come back to Albury have rocks in their head,’’ he said.
‘‘We are damaging the brand of Albury by this extraordinary meeting.
‘‘The theories from some of the councillors that override the chief medical officer of NSW and all the other experts is just bizarre.’’
AAP, more to come