Sutherland Shire ready for synthetic upgrades
In a massive coup for football in NSW, the Sutherland Shire Council is set to contribute up to $5 million for sports infrastructure development with a further $3 million to come from project partners, sporting clubs and associations for the installation of synthetic playing and training sports fields across the Shire.
The trend of local grassroots and state league clubs upgrading their football parks to artificial surfaces has peaked in the last year with the likes of Lambert Park, Hensley Athletic Field, Lilys Football Centre, Blacktown Football Park, Arlington Oval and the Sydney United Sports Centre receiving facelifts to their grounds.
Statistically renowned for having the largest participation figures for any local football association in the Southern Hemisphere, the Sutherland Shire Association has also joined in on the trend with a number of clubs choosing to operate with artificial surfaces.
Kareela Playing Fields, Greenhills Parklands and Lilli Pilli Oval are just some of the venues that are set to benefit from the installation of a synthetic surface.
Sutherland Shire Football Association General Manager Jeff Stewart was eagerly anticipating the influx of artificial surfaces in the Shire area.
“This is a great initiative by Sutherland Shire Council.
“Sutherland is an extremely active community with very limited field space available for use and absolutely no room to expand. For example, Sutherland Shire Football Association has in excess of 17,600 participants (1,420+ teams) playing football each and every weekend.
“The toll on the fields is enormous with some fields barely playable by half way through the football season.
“Council funding these publicly accessible synthetic fields, as the first of what is hopefully many such facilities, will provide an opportunity for football and other like-minded sports to play and train on a superior surface, all year round.
“This Council initiative is a direct result of advice that Council have received from the many sports that are active within Sutherland Shire.”
Lilli Pilli FC President Greg Storey, whose club was the first local team in the Shire to seriously pursue a solution to enhance all weather playability and to overcome the problems associated with recurrent damage to its turf based home ground, Lilli Pilli Oval stated to Football NSW.
“We are very excited about our forthcoming synthetic pitch at Lilli Pilli Oval. It will be a great asset for our local community and will result in many years of quality enjoyable football.
“The Sutherland Shire Council has been working with us for some time now dotting the eyes on what we believe will be a viable model for many clubs in the area and across the state.”
Footballers in the area were also impressed with news on the upgrade to artificial surfaces as local Loftus Yarrawarrah Rovers All Age Mens player Rob Fitzgerald stated.
“As a player for Loftus Yarrawarra Rovers FC, it is a fantastic privilege to have access to artificial pitches.
“I will always remember the first time I took to the new synthetic surface at Seymour Shaw, it felt as if I was playing in the most important game of my life.
“It was in fact a trial match. I still get the same feeling whenever I take to any artificial surface, it instils inside a pride not easily matched.
“The presence and utilisation of more synthetic surfaces in the Sutherland Shire would be a tremendous benefit to the local clubs and players.
“The ability to have training and matches not hampered by weather or field degradation would be such an asset to the sport.
“It would be a dream come true to always play and train on a flat, first class surface.”
Seymour Shaw Park home to the Sutherland Sharks who participate in the IGA National Premier Leagues NSW Mens 1 competition, were the first team to move to AN artificial surface in 2007.
Sharks skipper Nick Stavroulakis was there at the beginning of the Sharks’ venture with an artificial surface and stated that he was looking forward to what interesting movements lied ahead for the pitch.
“It was great to be part of the first ever artificial surface in the Southern Hemisphere as Seymour Shaw Park played a pivotal role in encouraging other clubs to do the same.
“I understand that the pitch will get an upgrade at the end of the football season which will ensure that the Sharks as well as local grassroots clubs have the opportunity to continue to play on good artificial surface which has played a huge part in playing free flowing football on a great surface.”
Sutherland Shire Mayor Steve Simpson said that with one in four residents in the southern Sydney local government area registered to play sport locally, the implementation of a new strategic direction would keep pace with growing demand for quality sports fields and the need to provide all weather facilities.
“The construction of a new sports precinct at Greenhills will provide 10 new multisports playing and training fields for the community. Council has also undertaken an exhaustive analysis of sites across the Shire, consulted with synthetic field experts and reviewed the latest technology to maximise the use of the existing sports fields through installing synthetic surfaces.
“We now have three new locations across the Shire where synthetic surfaces will be installed commencing this year. They are two multisport fields at Kareela Playing Fields, two synthetic fields within Greenhills Parklands which will also be used by other sports and Lilli Pilli Oval. We hope that when these synthetic fields are up and running, the sports clubs and associations will see the great value in installing these surfaces and get on board with more sites across the Shire.”
