By Laura Michell
Fifteen community groups and sports clubs have called on Hume council to increase spending in its 2019-20 budget to improve their facilities and fund new projects.
The groups made submissions to the council’s draft budget ahead of the final budget being adopted on June 24.
Three soccer clubs – Hume United, Meadow Park and Broadmeadows Stars – said their pitches and changerooms were in need of urgent upgrades.
Hume United general manager Mutlu Oztas said the club had the “worst playing pitch conditions”.
He said the main pitch at the club’s Lara Douglas Reserve home ground in Dallas was “way below average” and the surface needed to be removed and re-grassed.
“I believe it is in a very dangerous condition,” he said. “In the past four weeks, we’ve had eight injury cases, three of which required ambulance attendance. These injuries were mainly caused due to sprained ankles due to the … ground conditions.”
The club is also asking the council to consider adding more lights to the reserve and fencing along the creek to stop balls from landing
in it.
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Broadmeadows Stars Sports Club also raised concerns about the condition of its pitch, saying a cricket pitch through the centre of the ground was putting players at risk.
Club secretary Cemil Yildiz said the ground was not stable or level.
“When we play our matches, we encourage our players to stay away from the cricket pitch area as much as possible to avoid further injuries, as ankle injuries are becoming a regular occurrence,” he said.
The club has asked the council to consider creating two new soccer pitches on an oval at the reserve.
Meadow Park Soccer Club wants the council to add new changerooms to Gladstone Park Reserve to accommodate the growing number of female teams at the club.
Club spokesman Don Pritchard said all five pitches were usually in use at the same time, but two teams were forced to get changed in cars or outside.
