Richard Michael
DeanoHarmoWeekend Sport Cancelled
June 17th 2007 00:04
Category: No Category
It's an all-too-familiar sight in Sydney, and one that repeated itself all over the metro area and beyond. Sporting fields with "closed" signs, and where normally on a weekend would be the sight of games being played, was nothing. Sometimes there were puddles of water, other times the grounds looked perfectly playable.
It was the same for any sport. AFL, rugby union, rugby league, soccer, netball and countless others. Not only in junior competitions, but in open age as well. Sydney AFL matches were cancelled, so were several grades of club rugby and even Jersey Flegg and SG Ball rugby league.
Yes, we've had plenty of rain in Sydney; and following on from such a major drought that's been welcome. There's even been unconfirmed rumours of a couple of drops in the catchment area, a welcome deviation from the normal pattern where the metro area gets flooded while the dams remain bone-dry.
It's a sad reality that most of this water will go out to sea - and considering the stormwater drains are built using 1800s technology it shouldn't be too difficult with modern engineering methods to re-route the drains to treatment plants at Warragamba. But that's another story, and well away from the normal sporting themes on this site.
But was the rain this week enough to warrant mass ground closures? It shouldn't be. Only 2 weeks ago, most of the grounds were totally bone-dry dustbowls. Sadly, water restrictions had prevented any watering of the grounds, and in many cases maintenance was left unattended to as wear and tear on the grounds left them out of shape. From there, it took only a few drops of rain to create large puddles.
As a safety issue, those grounds probably should have been closed, but they remain a memorial to the months of neglect by councils. Other grounds looked perfectly playable, and it remains a mystery why they were closed. Possibly a fear of litigation, but it seems odd that winter sports are unable to be played in even remotely wintery conditions.
At a time when sports participation numbers across the board are declining, and obesity levels are rising, more efforts should be made to keep grounds playable. What is happening across Sydney this weekend, which happened several times last season, and will no doubt happen again, is a disgrace.
It was the same for any sport. AFL, rugby union, rugby league, soccer, netball and countless others. Not only in junior competitions, but in open age as well. Sydney AFL matches were cancelled, so were several grades of club rugby and even Jersey Flegg and SG Ball rugby league.
Yes, we've had plenty of rain in Sydney; and following on from such a major drought that's been welcome. There's even been unconfirmed rumours of a couple of drops in the catchment area, a welcome deviation from the normal pattern where the metro area gets flooded while the dams remain bone-dry.
It's a sad reality that most of this water will go out to sea - and considering the stormwater drains are built using 1800s technology it shouldn't be too difficult with modern engineering methods to re-route the drains to treatment plants at Warragamba. But that's another story, and well away from the normal sporting themes on this site.
But was the rain this week enough to warrant mass ground closures? It shouldn't be. Only 2 weeks ago, most of the grounds were totally bone-dry dustbowls. Sadly, water restrictions had prevented any watering of the grounds, and in many cases maintenance was left unattended to as wear and tear on the grounds left them out of shape. From there, it took only a few drops of rain to create large puddles.
As a safety issue, those grounds probably should have been closed, but they remain a memorial to the months of neglect by councils. Other grounds looked perfectly playable, and it remains a mystery why they were closed. Possibly a fear of litigation, but it seems odd that winter sports are unable to be played in even remotely wintery conditions.
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