By Marcus Uhe
Doveton Soccer Club officials are fed-up with the City of Casey’s ground maintenance at their home facility at Waratah Reserve, describing their home base as being in “disrepair” to open their season.
The club has been unsuccessfully advocating for light towers for their main pitch through the council’s capital works grants program for a number of years and is forced to hold all of their fixtures during day-time slots as a result.
The state of their pitches is also under scrutiny, with Doveton forced to move their opening home match of the National Premier League 3 season against Melbourne City on Saturday 19 March to their opponents’ home ground at Parade College in Bundoora due to a delay in maintenance works creating an uneven and potentially dangerous playing surface.
Not hosting home fixtures can have damaging financial consequences for the club due to missing out on canteen and ticket sales on the day.
Doveton Soccer Club vice president Debbie Thornton described the surface as “like a sandbox” following their first home game of the season last weekend against Springvale White Eagles Football Club.
She feels their facilities have made them an embarrassment to rest of the league.
“We got laughed at last season with some of the teams that came down and played here,” Ms Thornton said.
“We feel as though, they (other clubs) come to our ground, they see the state of our facilities and the surrounding area and we go to their grounds, like Casey Fields when Melbourne City are playing there, and it’s pristine, not a blade of grass out of place.
“We can’t even get a couple of light poles put up.”
Under NPL rules, clubs which cannot meet facility requirements risk relegation to a lower division, at the league’s discretion.
Minimum requirements for any senior NPL match to be played at the venue include “an even grass coverage where possible”, with “no important area of the field, including goal areas, [which] may be dangerous for any participant.”
Ms Thornton fears the club is at risk of losing their next fixture on Saturday 9 April against the Preston Lions due to the condition of the surface.
A match official can abandon a competition fixture if it is determined that playing conditions have become “unsafe or untenable for any reason”.
Casey City active communities manager Angie Peresso said the council was responsible for management of the facility and have spent more than $1 million on renewal and extension projects at Waratah Reserve.
“To date (Wednesday 30 April) Waratah Reserve’s soccer pitches have been serviced in line with our maintenance schedule and meet the required standards for safe use and competition use,” Ms Peresso said.
“Pitch one has been serviced an additional five times compared to last year’s season due to the favourable growing conditions.
Acknowledging the lighting issue, Ms Peresso said a joint effort from council and the Club to receive a Sport and Recreation Victoria grant in 2021 was unsuccessful, but that lighting for the pitch “remains a priority for future floodlighting projects”.
“When allocating funding to sporting facilities and clubs, the council considers female friendly facilities, floodlighting, sportsground renewal and digital infrastructure (eg electronic scoreboards), as a priority, while also taking into account the age of the facility.
“The City of Casey is committed to supporting Casey’s diverse sports community through advocacy, grants and funding a range of projects to ensure the facilities meets our growing community’s needs.”
