Junior Footy in Sydney, interesting!!

[anniswan]

I brought my son up with me to see the Swans last night and was met by a friend at the airport and his son, my son, jarrod had been lined up to be the runner for my friends sons' game for the day.

We arrived at the ground to find out that the team didn't have enough players, so Jarrod was registered and put on the team list to play. He was rapt, but his mother was really worried. The bigest issue to me was the state of the ground.

In Victoria we have an exemption to be able to water sporting grounds and our season was delayed by 3 weeks to enable the grounds to become greener. But the ground Jarrod played on yesterday was brown and as hard as concrete.

Isn't there any issues with insurance about the state of the grounds in Sydney.

They have a rule that players can't be flinged to the ground which is warrented given the state of the grounds, but I am still in disbelief that they allow kids to play on grounds that are so hard that when you bounce the ball it ends up bouncing up about 12 feet.

I am not looking to critisise Sydney AFL or anything but as a parent it's a real worry when kids are being let loose on grounds in this condition. Today looking at Jarrods legs he is quite grazed, but not enough to worry him.

Jarrod had a great game, kicked 1.4, apparently got BOG, and the boys he played with were great kids. and I thank the team for the opportunity for Jarrod to play with them,

[floppinab]

There's not a ground in Sydney that hasn't been effected by this in some way or another this year (and probably the last couple as well), for seniors juniors you name it. I'd say there'd be only a few suburban grounds that have any sort of exemption for some sort of watering.

I've never seen my kids home ground in a worse state than it is now. Huge areas of dust, games look like they're being played in a dust storm. If we do ever get rain it's just going to turn to a massive mud pack as well.

It'd be nice to be able to get some water on them but what are our reserviors down to now, less than 45%??? What can we do, the only other option is not to play.

I'd be interested to know where your son played anni if your happy enough to post the details, and even more interested in what you thought of the standard. Knowing the rule you quote my guess is around the 10 - 12 year group.

[Norris Lurker]

Most of the senior grounds these days are rock-hard dustbowls, and I can only imagine that the junior grounds would be like playing on concrete.
Unfortunately we're stuck with it until the rain comes. The water restrictions are tight, and have to be - if they make exemptions for junior sporting grounds they'd have to for all sorts of other groups as well.

[anniswan]

The ground was on the North Shore and I would say that the standard of the game was pretty comparatable to Melbourne, although it was not played in the same vain given the dry ground conditions.

I will say that the umpiring was pretty ordinary though, very inconsistant.

At the start of the year we were not able to water our grounds in Victoria, but with he prospect of competition being cancelled for 2004, the government relaxed the water restrictions.

[stellation]

Originally posted by anniswan
The ground was on the North Shore and I would say that the standard of the game was pretty comparatable to Melbourne, although it was not played in the same vain given the dry ground conditions.

I will say that the umpiring was pretty ordinary though, very inconsistant.

At the start of the year we were not able to water our grounds in Victoria, but with he prospect of competition being cancelled for 2004, the government relaxed the water restrictions.

What is the score with sanitizing recycled water so it is at a state that it is appropriate for use on a playing ground? Is it technically possible to do?

Gore Hill oval is looking terrible at the moment.

[j s]

Originally posted by stellation
What is the score with sanitizing recycled water so it is at a state that it is appropriate for use on a playing ground? Is it technically possible to do?

Definitely!! All it needs is money!! Sshould have been done twenty years ago. Many purposes do NOT need drinking standard water. The hardest stuff to get out of recycled water is the minerals and nutrients but that doesn't matter for irrigation and industrial use. (the lumps and bugs are comparatively easy). The US mid-west has been recycling water back into the Mississippi for many years.

We need a dual water system and we need it now!!

Originally posted by stellation
Gore Hill oval is looking terrible at the moment.

Some players have taken to wearing arabian style headgear to protect against the duststorms

[stellation]

Originally posted by j s
Definitely!! All it needs is money!! Sshould have been done twenty years ago. Many purposes do NOT need drinking standard water. The hardest stuff to get out of recycled water is the minerals and nutrients but that doesn't matter for irrigation and industrial use. (the lumps and bugs are comparatively easy). The US mid-west has been recycling water back into the Mississippi for many years.

We need a dual water system and we need it now!!


Some players have taken to wearing arabian style headgear to protect against the duststorms

I wonder what the costs are... Gore Hill is the obvious to me because the hospital alone would easily provide enough recycled water for the grounds so I assume it would be cheaper (not sure if that logic stands) to setup it up. Loathe as I am to bring it up, is this something where people would consider allowing corporate sponsorship of local grounds to help meet some of the costs? Not naming rights per se... just curious what folks think, Big Blue assisted with the recycled water program at Taronga for some community spirit publicity and a plaque- what would you think of seeing a company assist meet the cost for the kickback of a logo on the side of the road in a pretty prime spot?

I go to Gore Hill to jog and keep my goalkicking eye in (I keep telling myself I will bother to play again one day!) and it is just getting worse and worse... I was walking past it in summer and saw a long on in a game of cricket go down in the proper position (don't quote that out of context!) to field a rolling ball and get hit very hard in the head when the ball bounced up after hitting one of the dirt patches.

[Norris Lurker]

Originally posted by stellation
Gore Hill oval is looking terrible at the moment.

North Shore are very worried about the state of the ground - I hear they're investigating whether they can move one of their remaining games to North Sydney Oval.

[thommoone]

hehe, i remember playing at Gore Hill a few years back when i used to play. Hated it, always a mud pit that smelt like sewerage.

[j s]

Originally posted by thommoone
hehe, i remember playing at Gore Hill a few years back when i used to play. Hated it, always a mud pit that smelt like sewerage.

Only up the end near the hospital!!

This year it's a dustbowl. Players just disappear from view.

[Wardy]

If the residents of Brighton-Le-Sands in Sydney's south can get away with water usage by having a sign in their front window saying "Bore Water" then why not the ovals - if you are driving towards the Novatel, have a look at the line of houses on the left hand side, they all have this "bore Water" sign in their front window - now as to where they have actually sunk the said bore remains a bit of a mystery - so why cant we have bore water for the playing fields? or is that way too simple?