Statement on Port Melbourne Football Club's access to North Port Oval
Has Council blocked PMFC from accessing North Port Oval?
No. It is not accurate to say Port Phillip Council has denied Port Melbourne Football Club (PMFC) access to North Port Oval (NPO).
PMFC continues to have full access to NPO for its home games and training needs. We are fully supportive of all PMFC games played at NPO, including those to be broadcasted during the 2025 season.
What agreement is in place between Council and PMFC?
Ahead of the 2025 season, Council and PMFC agreed to broadcast six games at NPO. PMFC nominated when these games would take place as part of the 2025 VFL fixture, with two games including PMFC and the others between external clubs.
In May, Council also confirmed with PMFC that it could broadcast any of its games played at NPO. Council has declined any further games in which PMFC is not playing to manage the playing surface and enable access to schools and community groups.
What is the issue with hosting extra games?
We only have a small number of sporting grounds and must balance the use of these popular facilities across a range of sporting and community groups.
Hosting additional high-impact games at NPO impacts the turf and can make it unsafe for competitive use. This can lead to restricted usage of the ground by PMFC and other community users as works take place to repair the turf. This happened in 2023 after agreeing to host additional VFL teams from outside Port Phillip for training and games at the request of the AFL and PMFC.
The agreement this year, supported by PMFC ahead of the 2025 season, was created to prioritise the long-term health of the playing surface to ensure it remains fit for use throughout the entire football season for use by PMFC, school and community users as well as ensuring it is in good condition for the Port Melbourne Cricket Club when their season begins.
Council has spent considerable time and resources to improve and maintain the playing surface over the last few years – we will continue to support PMFC training and games but will not compromise this to host any further VFL round games where PMFC is not playing. As with prior years we will consider hosting VFLW and VFL finals subject to ground conditions.