By Charlene Gatt
A $72,000 State Government sporting grant will provide six Brimbank sporting grounds with drought-resistant summer grasses – but only if the same Government will grant further water allocations.
Sport and Recreation Minister James Merlino announced the funding at Green Gully Reserve last Tuesday. The grant will allow Santa Anna Couch Grass to be planted at Green Gully Reserve, Ralph St Reserve, Barclay Reserve, Larissa Reserve, Keilor Park Recreation Reserve and Keilor Lodge Reserve.
The grass grows well in summer months and requires about a third less water to be maintained than cold season grasses.
“At a grassroots level, the impact of the drought is the number one issue and we’ve all got to think of ways that we can combat the drought – whether it’s drought-resistant turf, whether it’s water storage irrigation, synthetic surfaces – there’s a whole range of ways to deal with it,” Mr Merlino said.
“It’s not just for the drought that we’re in the middle of at the moment, it’s for the drought that’s going to come around five, 10 years down the track. We need to make some long-term changes to our facilities and sporting clubs are the glue that holds communities together.”
But the joint commitment – which will see Brimbank City Council pour in $85,000 – cannot go ahead until the State Government grants the municipality further water allocations.
Brimbank City Council chief executive officer Nick Foa said under current water restrictions the council could not divert water from other open space areas.
“We are in discussions with the Victorian Government around the issue and expect to agree on a solution soon,” he said.
“While we hope to commence planting as soon as possible to ensure the fields are fit for community use as soon as possible, we cannot commit to firm deadline at this time.”
If all goes to plan the council hope to lay down the seeds between September and October. The grass takes about three to four months to start growing, and up to a year to completely grow. In the meantime the council is looking at environmentally-friendly solutions to complement the current water allocations available. The funding is welcome news for Keilor Park Football Club, who have been taking matters into their own hands to fix the deteriorating ground at Keilor Park Recreation Reserve.
“I’m a bit shocked actually, I didn’t think they were actually going to go ahead with it,” co-president Adam Papal said.
Fellow president Dean Sparks told Star the ground had recently been aerated, sprayed and seeded by a member of the club who works at a turf and irrigation company.
Mr Sparks said the dry ground was tough on player’s ankles throughout the season.
“We had three, four inch cracks in the ground and now if you go over the whole there’s not really a crack in it; it’s really starting to repair itself.”
But Mr Sparks is in two minds about the announced funding, and said he’ll celebrate when the seeds are sown.
“(The) problem I find with a lot of the things is a lot of people say things are going to happen and it doesn’t really get done, so I never really hold my breath any more.”
