KNAPSACK OVAL READY FOR ACTION
Blue Mountains City Council has completed a $460,000 make-over of Knapsack Park which now
offers an improved the playing surface on the popular sports ground in time for the busy winter
sports season.
Over 400 players from the Blue Mountains Football Club attended a ‘Welcome Back to
Knapsack’ event on Saturday after the fields were temporarily closed for renovation.
Mayor, Cr Mark Greenhill said, “The oval is looking great. From a playing perspective, the sports
surface is probably the most important item of equipment in any sport facility.
Knapsack Park is one of our busiest sports grounds, so it’s important that we maintain the fields
to be suitable for multiple sports across multiple seasons, particularly soccer and cricket.”
The renovation work included building the soil profile to improve the turf growing conditions and
drainage, renewing the irrigation system, and re-turfing the fields to provide new grass suitable
for sports use. Those parts of the fields that had shallow soil due to compaction were top
dressed to increase the soil depth and carrying-capacity of the playing surface.
David Smith, President Blue Mountains Football Club said the renovation had been a long time
coming but the new surface it makes all the work worthwhile. “It has taken a lot of dedicated
people from across many agencies to make this happen and I would like to thank everyone that
has put in the effort to get us to where we are now”, he said.
Now that we have our new surface, I know every player will appreciate our new facility and I also
thank our members for their patience during the renovation period.”
Fran Refalo, President of Nepean Football Association said, “The fields are looking great! It’s
fantastic to see all levels of government as well as the community working together to achieve
the rebuilding of the playing surface at Knapsack Park; an important project to a growing Blue
Mountains Football Club.”
The successful project was completed in partnership with Council contributing $280,000 of
funding from the Asset Works Program, Asian Cup Legacy Funding of $150,000 and
$30,000 funding from the Australian Government under the Community Development Grants
Program.
“I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the Blue Mountains Football Club and Nepean Football
Association in securing the Asian Cup Legacy Funding with Council”, said the Mayor.
“By working together we have been able to deliver an excellent result for all users of Knapsack Park.”
Photo: Welcome back to Knapsack: Mayor and Ward 4 Councillor, Mark Greenhill with Cr
Brendan Christie and Fran Refalo (President, Nepean Football Association), David Smith & Len
Bowman (President & Treasurer, Blue Mountains Football Club) open the winter sports season
after a $460,000 irrigation project to improve the playing surface of the popular sportsground.
Media release from Blue Mountains City Council
