By Jed Lanyon
Footballers who played on Mac Warburton’s Mac Sparke Oval over the past few weeks have been treated to a muddy scene.
$600,000 went into redeveloping the oval including drainage works, but it wasn’t much help after recent rainfall reduced the playing surface to mud again.
Councillor Jim Child spoke about the state of the ground at the 23 July Yarra Ranges Council meeting.
“Council embarked on a project last year to redevelop and reconstruct Mac Sparke Oval at Warburton Recreation Reserve.
“An extensive amount of work was done in regards to drainage.”
Mr Child said both the football and cricket clubs we’re forced to relocate throughout the works.
“The first home game, the ground was marked out and it was an absolutely stunning day it was a fantastic asset and great to play on… And then it rained and that’s where we ran into some real trouble.
“There were significant problems with the ground. I happened to call in there and I didn’t get a very warm welcome… I went back on the Monday and the ground stunk like septic.
“I have to reassure the community that the team has been working solidly behind the scenes to resolve this problem… There’s definitely a drainage problem there
“And after extensive investigation and some prompt maintenance work, which obviously wasn’t enough, we found out that the turf that was installed there was not the appropriate product.
“It should have been a sandy loam product and it was a clay based product.
Mr Child said he looks forward to a speedy recovery of the ground.
Warburton/Millgrove Football Netball Club treasurer Rodney McKail said the club would continue to play at Mac Sparke Oval for the final two games of the home and away season.
“Clearly the ground is carrying some mud and is not at the ideal standard.
“We continue to assess the ground and at this stage our plan is to play there for the rest of the season.
“We’ve been liaising with council and they’ve been very good with updating us when there is progress.
“They’ll do more work to rectify the issue around December.”
Mr McKail said that there is not a great deal that can be done at this time due to the inability for heavy machinery to operate on the soft muddy surface.
