Football NSW Praise Penrith City Council’s Decision to Waive Field Hire Costs

Football NSW today applauded the decision by Penrith City Council to waive ground hire costs and urged other councils to also do all they can to support football clubs.

In a fantastic move for community football in the area, Penrith City Council led by Tricia Hitchen decided to waive ground hire costs for sporting clubs and associations with seasonal bookings at Council managed sports grounds and facilities for the 2022 winter season.

“We know that after two years of disruptions from the pandemic, our City’s club representatives and players were eager to get outdoors again but unfortunately it has been a rough start to the season due to issues beyond our control,” Cr Hitchen said.

“While we are getting to as many grass fields as we can as fast as we can, the poor weather conditions have saturated many grounds making it impossible for our equipment to be safely placed on fields.

“Whilst every effort is being made to restore the condition of our sportsgrounds to allow them to be playable and safe, the surface at some grounds is still too wet.

“We thank our community for being patient and we hope that by waiving these fees it’s one less stress for our clubs and associations to think about as they continue to reschedule fixtures and plan for their next playable games.”

Football NSW CEO Stuart Hodge highlighted his support for this great move delivered by Penrith City Council.

“Well done to Penrith City Council for pushing its valued support behind our code in what have been challenging times for the sport.

“Decisions such as this from Penrith City Council go a very long way to assuring our clubs and players are well supported and will continue to provide a positive and significant benefit to the community.”

The ongoing rainfall has disrupted the start of the 2022 winter season, with some clubs having their games postponed due to the poor weather conditions while others are yet to take the field as a result of ground closures.

This move is set to benefit more than 60 local sporting clubs and associations from 13 different sporting codes who have registered for the winter 2022 season.

The latest decision to waive sportsground hire fees follows Council’s well-received move to allow free use of the City’s sportsgrounds in the 2020 and 2021 winter seasons, as well as the 2020-2021 summer season, during the COVID-19 pandemic.