Michael Slater has an oval in honour of him. It’s yet to be renamed

2 hours ago 3

A council has stalled for more than a year on its plans to rename Michael Slater Oval despite multiple vandalism attempts on the oval’s signage and a wave of community backlash over the sporting field controversially named after the domestic abuser.

Slater, 55, once an opening batsman for Australia and national hero, was convicted in 2022 for domestic violence abuses against women.

A poster with the words “End Domestic Violence” was anonymously plastered on top of the oval’s sign.

Slater played junior cricket in his hometown of Wagga Wagga, and in 2014 an oval in Bolton Park was named in his honour.

The oval’s sign with Slater’s name was vandalised with spray paint in May 2024 – and in a separate instance, a poster with the words “End Domestic Violence” was plastered on top anonymously. Wagga Wagga City Council swiftly removed the signage from the oval.

Shortly after, councillors at a meeting in May last year narrowly voted 4-3 in favour of renaming the oval, and opened submissions for a month in June 2024 for locals to suggest new names, with the criteria that potential names should be readily recognised by the community.

The oval’s signage was first vandalised with spray paint in May 2024.

Numerous submissions from community members detailed concerns that having an oval named after Slater was inappropriate, did not reflect community expectations of behaviour, and should not be recognised in association with a public sporting facility.

While the council said it would compile a list of names and hold a councillor workshop to review possible options before a final report is presented to council recommending a new name, no decision has been made.

Greens councillor Jenny McKinnon said there was “no clear consensus” in the community about an alternative name.

“Council’s letting it sit for the moment, and I think that process will happen again. We don’t have a time-frame on that, but we’re keen for the community to be involved,” she said.

Two other playing fields in Bolton Park are named in honour of legendary cricketers Mark Taylor and Geoff Lawson, who also hail from the region.

The two ovals are referred to as “Field 1, Mark Taylor Oval”, and “Field 2, Geoff Lawson Oval”, while the third is called “Field 3″, with no mention of Slater, who has been removed from the council’s website.

There are also videos the council has published of Taylor and Lawson giving speeches about the ovals named in their honour – but none of Slater.

Councillor McKinnon supports renaming the oval – she says it is frequented by kids who often play sport there. And with no new name, the oval is occasionally still informally referred to as “Michael Slater Oval” by some sporting codes who use the field.

“Kids ask their parents, ‘Oh, who’s this guy?’. Explaining that is one thing, but just the symbolism of having a place like that named after someone with those sorts of convictions was really a community issue,” McKinnon said.

“The broader community has made it very clear to the council they’re not in favour of it being named after someone with his criminal record.”

Wagga Wagga City Council was contacted for comment.

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