Man charged over alleged arson attacks at community sports clubs – The Age

A 31-year-old man has been charged with destroying two sports facilities in Melbourne’s south-east after the soccer community in the area was hit with suspected arson attacks. The man, from Dandenong, is accused of burning the pavilion at Capital Reserve in Glen Waverley about 3am on April 16, and then targeting the clubhouse at nearby Mayfield Reserve about 5.15am on May 3. The fires caused more than $4 million in damage. The damage from the Capital Reserve fire in Glen Waverley on April 16. Credit: Daniel Pockett The Age revealed in May that police were investigating whether the blazes were linked. The fires followed a stoush between Monash Council and its soccer clubs, after the council made a contested decision on which club would be allocated to its newly upgraded facility at Carlson Reserve in Mount Waverley. Police are investigating a third fire, the firebombing of a car at the home of a soccer club director in November 2024. No charges have been laid over that fire. Detectives from the Monash crime investigation unit charged the Dandenong man with two counts of arson and two counts of vehicle theft. The damaged clubhouse at Mayfield Reserve in Mount Waverley on May
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