By Kerri-Anne Mesner
SPRING Hill Football Club’s ability to host home games for the next two soccer seasons is uncertain due to the effect of the drought on its home grounds.
Two junior home games at the Parkwood Green Primary School in Hillside were postponed on 25 May after a Football Federation Victoria (FFV) referee deemed the pitch to be unsafe.
One of the opposing teams had travelled from Ballarat for the weekend game, which will now be played during the catch-up round of the season in August.
The club’s home ground is rock hard, with no grass and an uneven surface, according to club president Tom Bendistino.
Parkwood Green Primary School principal Eric Sealey said the school had not played competitive sport on the oval at all this year and had advised the football club of its plans early this year.
He said students still used the oval for lunchtime “kick-arounds”, but all interschool competitions, which are played every second week, had been relocated to the opposing schools’ grounds.
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“The oval here is particularly poor because there’s been a drought since the school opened (in 2004),” Mr Sealey said.
“There wasn’t an established oval there for deterioration to occur.”
He said the school would be putting down a synthetic turf surface on the oval, but it was unlikely it would occur before spring 2009, as trucks were using the oval to get to a pool construction site on the school grounds.
Mr Sealey said, however, that if the school were to receive enough funds tomorrow to put in the synthetic surface, it would find an alternative arrangement for the trucks and go ahead straight away with the resurfacing.
Mr Bendistino said all Spring Hill FC home games would be relocated to the opposing teams’ home grounds until further notice.
He said the club was working with FFV to find a temporary site.
The club has 130 members and has already turned away about 50 children who were looking for a club to play with this season.
“Our problem has escalated (compared with other clubs facing pitch issues due to the drought) because there are no other facilities in eastern Melton,” Mr Bendistino said.
FFV football operations head Tony Persoglia said the federation was inspecting the grounds on Friday to verify the referee’s findings and determine how long the club would not be able to host home games.
He said the FFV worked with 32 municipalities in metropolitan Melbourne to keep tabs on ground conditions owned and maintained by councils.
Spring Hill FC grounds are not the responsibility of Melton Shire Council, according to the council’s community services general manager Maurie Heaney.
The FFV is urging councils, sporting clubs and other organisations who are responsible for soccer pitches to convert to synthetic surfaces.
