Long wait … Players and supporters of the Victorian Turf Cricket Association have again been left frustrated, with the season yet to start. 43899 Picture: KRISTIAN SCOTT
By Luke D’Anello
ANOTHER year, another delay for the Victorian Turf Cricket Association (VTCA).
Last week’s heavy rainfall again gave players an opportunity to spend Saturday afternoon testing their poker skills in the comfort of the pavilion.
For the first time, the league has introduced a reserve day for first XI matches, with round one games now scheduled for Sunday 19 December.
Fixtured round two matches will now be played in the one-day format if play goes ahead this weekend.
While the AFL Grand Final replay did push the season back a further week, pitches were still not ready for play on 9 October.
“We usually miss the first week, and that’s a combination of weather and the wickets not being ready due to heavy football traffic,” VTCA secretary Russell Pollock said.
“We always schedule a two-day game for the first game, so if there is a wash-out in the first week, it doesn’t impact on the fixturing.
“It’s been a combination of a lot of things that have sort of frustrated us a bit.”
According to Pollock, some of the VTCA’s requests to local councils during the off-season fell on deaf ears.
He acknowledged poor weather had prevented grass from growing at the necessary rate, but said other issues needed attention.
“I have an issue with councils in that we try to communicate to councils when we need to be on grounds, and some of them this year have used the weather as a cop-out.
“We’ve had grounds that haven’t had football played on them since about the third week in August that were only top-dressed last week.
“There’s no excuse for that, but that’s the sort of thing we have to put up with.
“What it (the delay) has done, on the positive side, is it’s given the clubs and the association a little bit of breathing space to make sure everything’s in place.”
Pollock said the league did not plan to start future seasons one week later because of a standard agreement with the Victorian Metropolitan Cricket Union.
“The only thing we could do is obviously reduce our season to get around this sort of thing. That’s obviously a last resort.
“This year’s been extraordinary in that we’ve been pushed back two weeks behind where we usually are.”
But a delay also hurts clubs, as it impacts on vital early-season revenue.
Spotswood secretary Ray Butterfield is adamant that councils need to speed-up the process of preparing grounds after the football season.
“We’re a pretty big club and we usually generate quite a bit of money over the bar. But we just didn’t open it last Saturday (9 October) in the end. It wasn’t worth it,” Butterfield said.
“It’s been a growing trend for clubs, for the past few years at least, that we’re not getting away on time.
“I think (the council) are leaving it a little bit late. I know they say they had trouble with the soil and that kind of thing this year, but I don’t think they’re getting onto them as quickly as they could.”
But Keilor president Rodney Callahan said the weather had not helped matters.
“The council looked like they may have been a bit behind this year,” he said.
“But I don’t blame the council. I blame the weather. We had that two weeks of really bad weather, which would have put their contractors back a couple of weeks.
“You can’t even get on the wickets to prepare them (in time), and that’s the hard thing because your trying to get grass to grow.
“You can’t cover them to stop the rain, because you need to get the rain onto the wicket to get it mature within a four or five-week period.”
Callahan lauded the VTCA’s move to include a reserve day, and said the season is yet to start on time during his six years at Keilor.
“It certainly does impact on the bar takings on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon if you have turf wicket teams.”
Yarraville Club president John Strachan said the league should consider including extra reserve days next season and beyond.
Strachan said Walker Oval is in sound condition compared to other grounds in the association.
“Council has been pretty good to us, but I think other councils have hurt other sides,” he said.
“But the VTCA might as well say, ‘let’s just forgo the first Saturday because we never play it anyway.’
“I think we might have played only five first days in 25 years. I think what the VTCA need to do, and I know it might hurt people, is possibly rely on a few more reserve days.”
Strachan said Yarraville Club also felt the financial impact of the delay.
Hobsons Bay City Council director of Works and Assets Phillip McDonald said: “Pushing the season back another week is not a decision that belongs solely to the council.”
“Recent climate changes have certainly impacted on both summer and winter sports, and this may be something that needs to be considered for cricket as a sport in general.” Clubs in Hobsons Bay were notified on 17 September that the preparation of turf wickets was two weeks behind.
