ACT Brumbies chief executive Andrew Fagan has declared the club's training facilities are arguably the worst of any professional sports team in Australia and compared them to a suburban football club. A day after the NSW Waratahs opened their state-of-the-art, $7 million training centre, Fagan said a failure to upgrade the Brumbies facilities would cost the side in terms of on-field performance and its ability to recruit players in the future.He said if the team wanted to continue to be competitive in an international-standard competition such as the Super14, it needed to level the playing field in terms of facilities.

"Not only do we sit clearly as having the worst facilities in the Super14, we probably challenge any Australian team in the professional football codes or professional sport in having the worst facilities in Australia," he said.

"We're focusing our attention on finding a solution that will assist us in improving our facilities and that covers two components. One is our training field, it's been much spoken about in the past that we've got to upgrade our training field from a public park to a field that is actually suitable for the guys to train on on a full-time basis.

"Then with the actual facilities, we've got 40-odd players here sharing three showers and a gym that's just adequate and certainly our medical facilities and team player facilities are inadequate. "In general, it is an overcrowded environment that makes it difficult to work and certainly difficult to do things we need to do to remain competitive. It's a challenging environment and one that we have to fix otherwise we will not be able to continue to compete."

The Brumbies started lobbying the ACT Government for assistance to improve their facilities in 2003 and travelled to Queensland in 2005 with former Sports Minister Ted Quinlan to assess the Reds' facilities.They looked at sites around the ACT for a possible move before deciding an upgrade on their facilitiesat Griffith was the best option, but since then little has been achieved and the club has fallen behind their opponents.

"We are a tad jealous ... everyone else is taking massive steps forward in that regard and facilities are a cornerstone of your training program and they also are a very key part of your recruitment strategy," Fagan said.

"It will become tougher and tougher to bring players to Canberra if they're being shown facilities in Queensland, Western Australia and NSW that make us look like a suburban footy team."

The Waratahs used to train in several locations but the new centre at the Moore Park precinct has provided them with everything for the players in the one location next to the Sydney Football Stadium.In 2005, Ballymore, where the Queensland Reds train, received a face-lift to tune of $2.7 million and will again be upgraded as part of a $40million Australian National Rugby Academy redevelopment.The Western Force, which joined the Super14 in 2006, is also on schedule to outdo the two-time champions when it moves to a $25.7million multi-sport centre due to be completed in 2009.

Fagan said the Brumbies would approach the ACT Government again after they had devised a plan to improve the facilities.

He said the organisation realised it was not the only sport in Canberra with challenges but believed the facilities presented a significant hurdle in the development of the club.

Fagan said the Brumbies hoped to have a solution by the end of next year's Super14 competition but did not expect the upgrade to occur for 12 to 24 months.

TRAINING FACILITIES OF AUSTRALIAN SUPER 14 TEAMS

NSW WARATAHS
Train at the Sydney Football Stadium. New $7million training base opened this week adjacent to the SFS.Facilities include: Waratahs Performance Centre gymnasium, medical and treatment rooms, team meeting rooms, lecture theatre and media conference room, players' lounge and kitchen.

QUEENSLAND REDS
Train at Ballymore Stadium. Ballymore facilities were upgraded at cost of $2.7million in 2005. They will be upgraded again as part of a $40million Australian National Rugby Academy redevelopment.

Facilities to include: 50m pool, high-tech gymnasium, covered training areas, sports medicine facilities, office accommodation, conference centre and Rugby Hall of Fame.

WESTERN FORCE
Train at temporary headquarters at Perry Lakes StadiumWill move to new $25.7 million multi-sport centre adjacent to old stadium, due to be completed in 2009.

Facilities to include: Athletics stadium with 2000-seat grandstand, office accommodation for Rugby WA and state-of-the-art training and medical facilities. Access to nearby Challenge Stadium swimming pool.

ACT BRUMBIES
Train at Brumbies headquarters, Griffith. Facilities include: Gymnasium, office space, meeting/physio room, bowling green, training field and shipping container for team equipment.

Canberra Times