Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council kicks Queanbeyan City off Riverside Stadium

The Queanbeyan Palerang Regional Council has kicked City off Riverside and given it solely to the Monaro Panthers, with the former relegated to using the High Street oval instead.

That decision went against the recommendation of the council's own report, which said both clubs should continue to use Riverside until a new sporting complex was finished at Jerrabomberra next year.

Not only was there no clubhouse at High St, but the pitch wasn't up to the same standard as Riverside and the lights weren't good enough to play night games.

Queanbeyan City normally plays its senior games at 5.30pm - something that won't be possible at High St.

It also means Riverside could lie unused every second Saturday when Monaro plays its away games.

All of Queanbeyan City's sponsorship signs have been removed from Riverside.

The council met with Monaro last April before passing the resolution to kick City off Riverside at its meeting on July 22.

It then ignored the recommendation of the report commissioned at the July 22 council meeting and reaffirmed its decision on August 26.

Both QPRC mayor Tim Overall and councillor Michele Biscotti have links with the Panthers. Overall's wife Nicole is Monaro's state league women's coordinator, while Biscotti is a former vice-president and coach of the club.

Queanbeyan City president Zoran Duckinoski said he'd never heard of a team having a clubhouse - which they built with the help of a $450,000 grant from the federal government - but not being allowed to play on the adjacent field.

The club has lodged a code-of-conduct complaint against the council, but haven't had a response since late last year.

"QCFC was not engaged at all before the council made the decision last year," Duckinoski said.

"That's when I got the letter and it was a big surprise for everyone ... it was just out of nowhere.

"It's a huge impact. We can't give back to our sponsors as normally we do.

"We've put our sweat into [the field] over the past 20 years to get Riverside to this stage and we are happy to share it."

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Overall dismissed the council's links to Monaro, saying his wife had also played for City, while he'd been to more Queanbeyan games - where he used to be the No.1 ticket holder - than he had Panthers.

He said there were plans to upgrade the lighting at High St to allow night games to take place.

Overall was unsure why the report's recommendations were overlooked.

"High Street's always been suitable and has long been a state league-standard field. It is a high-standard field," he said.

"We've been doing some works to extend [the field] and there's plans in place to do something with the lighting."

Panthers co-president Geoff Young was open to returning to a ground-share situation at Riverside, but said it would need to be done in a respectful manner.

Capital Football declined to comment.

"[The council have] spent a significant amount of money to upgrade High St for the purpose of creating a venue for QCFC to play on for NPL2 - the difference is they can't play at night," Young said.

"It's been agreed if there is a requirement to play a night game ... then Riverside is still available for them to do that."

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