'Not fit for mud wrestling': Council pushes ahead with synthetic pitches in heated debate

Kingsgrove Avenue Reserve, Bexley and L'Estrange Park, Mascot could be added to the list of Bayside's synthetic sports fields.

Bayside Council will look at advancing the delivery of synthetic sporting fields at Kingsgrove Avenue Reserve, Bexley and L'Estrange Park, Mascot.

or signup to continue reading

Unlimited access on the web

Breaking news alerts direct to your inbox

The digital version of Today's Paper

Crosswords, Sudoku and Trivia

The council will also investigate the feasibility of providing a synthetic sporting field at Riverine Park at Arncliffe.

This follows a motion submitted by Councillor Ron Bezic at the October 28 council meeting.

"We all recognise the frustration experienced by the local sporting community when fields are closed due to wet weather," he said.

"Games are cancelled, training sessions are disrupted and our sporting clubs struggle to accommodate growing participation in the sport.

"Our community deserves sporting facilities that are reliable, accessible and available throughout the year," he said.

Cr Bezic asked that the council staff provide updated project plans and establish a realistic timeline and clarify the funding needed to deliver the projects.

He was supported by Councillor Edward McDougall.

"We have more demand than we can meet on our existing surfaces," Cr McDougall said. "We can either alienate more open space to dedicate towards active recreation or we can upgrade the existing space that's used. We need to take action like this to address demand," he said.

Speaking in the public forum, Dr Greta Werner asked the council to consider the option of natural turf compared with synthetic turf.

"The option of synthetic fields is framed as being the only option for high capacity fields and that is wrong," she said.

"A strong local example exists at Middle Head Oval in Mosman. Rather than installing synthetic turf, Mosman Council invested in installing high performance natural turf designed using advanced soil science and modern turf sports engineering.

"The result is a natural turf field capable of accommodating between 49 and 55 hours of organised sport each week supporting AFL and soccer and remaining available for informal community use.

"Around the world a number of governments, municipalities and sports organisations are actually removing the synthetic fields and installing natural grass because of concerns over environmental impacts, player safety, welfare and end of life disposal of plastics," she said

Local resident Sierra Bromwich told the council she was deeply concerned about the cumulative impacts of urban heat and microplastic pollution as more of Bayside's natural grass fields are replaced with synthetic surfaces.

"Living grass and soil help cool our neighbourhoods, support biodiversity, manage stormwater and provide opportunities for people to connect with nature. Synthetic fields may look green, but they don't provide those benefits. These are massive losses to our community that deserve to be accounted for in the council's decisions," she said.

Football St George chair Jeh Coutinho said, "We are not blind to the environmental impact of synthetic pitches but we would entrust the council to look into the best available technologies to minimise whatever environmental impact is caused by facilities of this kind. We do believe the technology is advanced to the level where these things can exist in an acceptable way where previously there have been issues that have not been well addressed."

The council heard from Bexley North Football club vice president Theo Angelopoulos who said the support for an all-weather field at Kingsgrove Avenue Reserve - the club's home ground - was overwhelming.

"Earlier this year, within a matter of three days our club gathered 1,256 physical signatures from community members and local businesses supporting the proposal. This emphasises the importance residents place on having a reliable field for the children and families. It is about participation, inclusion, physical and mental well-being and ensuring our children have access to safe and consistent sporting opportunities," he said.

Bexley North FC executive committee member Dominic Ambriano said the club has struggled to maintain player numbers and retain players and even teams because of the condition of the natural turf.

The club was losing players to other clubs that have synthetic turf because they are able to get more playing and training time and hone their skills

"The deterioration of the field actually meant that we needed to seriously consider potential injuries that these players could sustain playing on their natural turf fields," he said.

Cr Heidi Lee Douglas wanted to add an amendment that the council adopt the NSW government's decision-making framework as its standard approach for future sporting field surface decisions and require relevant strategic assessments and lifecycle cost comparisons before approving new surfaces.

She was also worried about the cost.

"We have been given a cost for Kingsgrove Avenue Reserve at $10 million and L'Estrange Park of $8 million. I estimated the total bundle at $36 million. We need to replace seven existing sporting fields. We don't know what the cost will be," she said.

"I'm not saying we should rule out synthetics. I'm just saying council should do our homework."

Cr Bezic did not accept the amendment.

Mayor Christina Curry said it was important to note that the technology has improved significantly and some of the previous arguments are not as relevant as they were in the past.

"Council staff are engaged in that technology so we can really get a good outcome for our community and ensure that our kids can continue to play particularly when we have weeks of washout," she said.

Cr Michael Nagi said the field at Valentine Sports Park was held up by a councillor as the golden standard but was really "not fit for mud wrestling."

"Natural grass is glorious if you happen to be the Sydney Football Stadium and host one fixture a week and babysit the turf with a million dollar maintenance budget," he said.

"Out here in the real world, our councillors are comparing apples to bulldozed orchards. We have limited space yet football is the biggest, fastest growing sport in the LGA.

"In the council's long-term financial plan there is $200 million earmarked for new open space. The money is there and the desperate need is there every Saturday morning," he said.

Cr Bezic's motion was supported and the council staff will now prepared an updated project plan for the two locations for new synthetic fields and a report on the feasibility of using Riverine Park as a future synthetic turf field.

Be the first to know when news breaks.