Gisborne club wants action on pitch

The junior players at Gisborne Soccer Club are sick of their soggy oval and want action. (Supplied: Gisborne Soccer Club)

It’s something the Gisborne Soccer Club has wanted for years: for their local pitch, Dixon Field, to have its drainage problems fixed.

“Each year we always have games called off because of puddling and unplayable surfaces, particularly on the main pitch which is where the floodlights are,” club president Richard Smart said.

“This year’s been no different.”

There are more than 220 kids and 70 to 80 adults playing across teams who have to compete to use the ground for training at night after work or school, because the other pitches are too dark.

But the clay-based soil on the main pitch means balls won’t roll, which isn’t ideal for a soccer club, and all the traffic causes the pitch to become a “mud bath” when games are played at the weekend.

Mr Smart said the club had spoken to Macedon Ranges council about the development of the Dixon Field Master Plan, which is progressing, but not fast enough.

The club wants more floodlit areas, another pitch, drainage work completed and the installation of all-weather, astroturf pitches.

“It’s quite rare for a football club, particularly of our size, to have nothing, no investment in sporting infrastructure that covers the services,” he said.

Council assets and operations director Shane Walden said the masterplan had been prepared and would be presented to council at a “future” meeting.

“The master plan identifies a number of improvement opportunities to the playing surfaces of Dixon Field Council has submitted a funding application to the Victorian Government to undertake the detailed design for the development of a second full-sized soccer pitch including drainage, irrigation, lighting and support infrastructure,” Mr Walden said.

However, Mr Smart said “planning is no good to anyone, unless it’s followed-up by actually implementing it”.

Elsie Lange