City of Sydney to add artificial turf surfaces at three sports fields

The City of Sydney is planning to upgrade three sports fields to synthetic grass to allow more types of sports and year-round play, with the Council today announcing that three multi-purpose synthetic fields will be at The Crescent in Annandale, Waterloo Oval in Waterloo and Turruwul Park in Roseberry.

Advising that the work is part of the City’s ongoing sports field upgrade program to support a growing inner city population, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore advised "as our local population continues to grow there is increased demand from our communities for more sporting fields and open spaces.

“A number of national and local sporting bodies have expressed their desires for high-quality synthetic grass fields that will allow them to play and train more often.”

Synthetic grass fields allow for greater use as a greater range of sports can use them more often. They are less impacted by weather and there is no need for returfing.

The new fields are in addition to three other synthetic fields already under construction.

Among these, Gunyama Park in Green Square will be the City’s first synthetic sports field and is due to be complete next year while Perry Park in Alexandria and Alexandria Park Community School will also have multipurpose synthetic fields suitable for FIFA senior teams.

The Crescent synthetic field will be suitable for junior hockey and other small ball sports. President of the Glebe Hockey Club, Les Wark, said it is welcome news for his players, commenting “the proposed multi-purpose artificial surface suitable for hockey will be a game-changer for the Glebe District Hockey Club, allowing our juniors to train and play small competition matches locally instead of travelling long distances from home.

“It will also benefit other local sporting clubs looking for a reliable all weather surface for training.”

The City’s open space, sports and recreation needs study released in 2016 forecast the need for an extra 16,000 playable hours on city sporting fields.

Lord Mayor Moore added “we have an ambitious plan to meet this demand by increasing the capacity of existing sports fields, building new sports fields and partnering with other land owners to build more fields.

“Upgrading some of our existing fields to synthetic turf will help us meet growing demand for more playable hours, so our local families and sporting teams can practise and compete all year round.”

Designs of the new synthetic fields will be released for community consultation next year. Construction of the synthetic fields at The Crescent and Turruwul Park is expected to start in 2021 and at Waterloo Oval in 2023.