My Letter of Complaint to the State Sports Centres Trust.

The state of community sports today.

This letter was written and emailed to the State Sports Centres Trust on my phone after I was thrown out of Lakeside Oval today.

Hi,

Riding my bike past lakeside oval. See a lacross thing is on. Poke in to watch for ten minutes before heading home. At the fence of the ground watching for five minutes and a bouncer rudely demands my bike be left outside. I have no lock so I said simply that I just wanted to watch for five minutes more and I would leave. He said no. He was agitated. It was "against conditions of entry". I said just five minutes and I'll be gone. My bike wasn't near anyone. Everything was safe. He got worse so I asked for him to bring management. A couple minutes later a stadium day manager called Edward came with 5 bouncers. He argued. I thought it was silly. He said it was the rules. I asked him to bring the rules to show me. He came back without them. We argued politely while more bouncers came and crowded us. I assured them they should not look so threatening because I wasn't going to get violent. I just wanted to watch for five more minutes and leave. They looked ready to manhandle me and threatened to call police. Ridiculous. At all times it was perfectly safe for everyone for me to watch some lacrosse while holding my bike. Bouncers got more agitated. I agreed to leave. As I left some bouncers in the background swore at me and yelled 'on your bike' high fiving each other etc. I feared for my safety.

Local sport is about inclusion.

Local sport is about community.

Local sport is about everyone getting together, acting reasonably and having fun.

Fun.

This did not happen today.

I or my bike was never going to hurt anyone today. I am so disappointed with the Trust right now. I fear the culture of rules, heavy security and not being reasonable at simple negotiation like "hey, give me five minutes and I'll go" replied with, "that's cool, just five minutes is fine, have fun!" are being lost at a community and state level.

Love, intelligence and kindness are what sport needs, not the rubbish I write about.

I'm sure the Trust has words to that effect in its constitution.

Attached is a photo of the view of the game I have now through an iron fence outside the stadium.

The green team just scored a goal.

At least they're having fun.

An apology would be the least that could happen this week. I will publish this email online.

Kind regards,

Glenn Peters