Is it time the Murrumbateman Rec Grounds turf was shown some love?
The Yass Valley boasts some incredible ovals and parks, but the Murrumbateman Rec Grounds are currently below-par, according to Murrumbateman Eagles President Andy Ingold.
“It’s not even mowed at the moment.”
“In all fairness, this was a horse paddock when I moved out here, but in 5 years, it hasn’t had much work done to it,” he said.
Since starting the club in 2019, the ground’s surface has been a consistent issue for the Eagles.
“Our new coach did his ankle in his first run out on the ground.”
“We encourage the guys and opposition to strap their ankles every game,” he said.
Andy contended that as ratepayers, the Murrumbateman people deserve better.
“Just looking at the length of the grass, you’d hope it could get a bit more love.”
“A redressing or complete renovation would be good.”
“We all pay our rates, and this is a growing community that deserves better facilities,” he said.
Murrumbateman Little Athletics Coach Kane Fillingham held a similar view on the state of the surface.
“It’s pretty ordinary.”
“Kids roll ankles out on the field there; there are rabbit holes and divots.”
“As we develop as a club, we’d like to see more professional facilities available to our kids and not just professional but safer facilities as well,” he said.
President at the Murrumbateman Little Athletics, Kristin Butler, suggested surface upgrades were long overdue.
“I think Murrumbateman has been on the backburner for a long time.”
“When you see how many kids we have coming out every Wednesday night, we do need upgraded and fixed facilities,” she said.
General Manager at the Yass Valley Council, Chris Berry, pleaded for patience as the council works with the Rec Grounds user groups to ensure all needs are accommodated.
“We’re working with all the users out there at the moment to try and develop an overall plan for the rec area.”
“At their request, we have deferred that until April, with a couple of the different groups having major events coming up,” he said.
Berry acknowledged that the Murrumbateman surface is incomparable to the grounds in Yass, but suggested that was to be expected with facilities that are still relatively new.
“No recreation ground goes from paddock to pristine Sydney Cricket Ground playing standard overnight.”
“Walker Park and Victoria Park here in Yass are at a higher standard, and there’s no doubt about that, but there’s been work going on in those areas for a long time.”
“We’ve got to progressively invest in that area to bring their facilities up to standard,” he said.
Berry asserted that water supply remains the critical issue in Murrumbateman, and once those issues are addressed, we should see an improved surface at the recreational grounds.
“Yes, we recognise the need to improve the surface out there, but I can’t do that without water.”
“Water is the critical issue; there is no sufficient supply of water for Murrumbateman, let alone putting it on recreation grounds at this point time,” he said.
With another Aussie Rules season approaching and with the Murrumbateman Rec Grounds being consistently used by the community all year round, let’s hope the surface can soon be made as safe as possible.
Max O’Driscoll
