A message to our members: Ormond Park Pavilion
To our players, families, volunteers and supporters,
We want to speak to you directly about the future of the Ormond Park pavilion, because it matters to all of us and you deserve to hear it from the club rather than through word of mouth.
As many of you know, part of the pavilion roof collapsed in February. Council immediately secured, and we have had no access to it since.
Last week, the club met with Council staff, who have told us they have costed the repair at between $1.8 and $2 million and that they have decided that funding such work would not be in the Council’s best interests.
Council have informed the club they have decided to demolish the pavilion, terminate our pavilion tenancy and ground allocation at Ormond Park, which has been our spiritual home for over 60 years, and disperse our teams across other grounds in the municipality at the conclusion of the 2026 season.
That news is hard to take, and we understand many of you will feel the same way we do.
Ormond Park has been our home since 1963. Generations of families have grown up here, our club helped build this ground and has poured into it for more than sixty years, and it has been the starting point for players who have gone on to the professional ranks and into national youth teams.
It remains the training home of more than a dozen of our junior sides.
We want you to know that the club is investigating all options available to us. We will not overpromise, and we do not yet have every answer, but we are working hard to protect our home and to push for the best possible outcome. We will continue to update our members as we go.
In the meantime, our football continues.
There are a few ways you can help right now.
If you have professional expertise that could assist, for example in law, property, building or construction, planning, media or fundraising, please get in touch with the club. Your knowledge could make a real difference. Email: clubadmin@essendonroyals.com.au
If you have a historical connection to the pavilion, whether that is memories, photographs, memorabilia, or stories from across the decades, we would love to hear from you. Every piece helps us tell the story of what this place has meant.
And tell Council what Ormond Park means to you. If you feel moved to, write to Council and share, in your own words, what this ground and pavilion mean to you and your family. Keep it personal and respectful. The more the Council hears directly from the community, the better.
If you wish to discuss this issue with a Councillor, the Ward councillor whose ward includes Ormond Park Moonee Valley City Council Mayor, Cr Dr Rose Iser.
She is contactable via email and phone:
0428 326 431
Irrespective of any emotion you have about this issue, it is important that all correspondence with Council staff and Councillors be respectful and free from swearing and/or abusive language.
Thank you for standing with us. This is our home, and it is worth fighting for.
Vitale Ferrante
President, on behalf of the Committee
Essendon Royals Soccer Club