For real hard wear, Sydney's council turn to fake grass
By Jacob Saulwick
May 25, 2019 — 12.00am
The grass is always greener when it's fake.
Or at least that is what a growing number of Sydney councils – and sports participants – are discovering as authorities turn to artificial turf to manage the strain on the city's open space.
The Inner West Council will next week debate a motion to start a new program of installing artificial turf on sporting grounds.
Dulwich Hill FC trains on Arlington Oval's artificial turf. Credit:Wolter Peeters
The motion extends a trend across the city. The City of Ryde Council, for example, has converted two fields to artificial turf since 2017, and plans to remake at least another three by 2022. The Hills Shire has recently opened two artificial turf pitches.
"The simple fact is if you want more kids to be able to play sport in the inner city and in the inner west, then you have to look at artificial surfacing," the Inner West mayor, Darcy Byrne, said.
"We're not going to get huge new swathes of green open spaces and the grounds are currently at capacity."
For councils and sporting clubs, the primary benefit of converting a sports field to artificial turf is that it allows fields to be used more intensively.
A grass field might be able to be used between 30 to 40 hours a week, said Ryde mayor Jerome Lexale. But a field with artificial turf could be used up to 90 hours per week.
In the inner west, Leichhardt's Lambert Park and Arlington Oval in Dulwich Hill have both been converted to artificial grass in the past decade.
The next priority according to the motion would be Tempe Reserve, followed by Leichhardt Oval (No. 2). After those, a council study has identified Centenary Park in Croydon, and Mackey Park and Steel Park in Marrickville as priorities. There are another five grounds further down the list – though they would not be converted any time soon.
"We don't have funding in the budget for more than one right now, but I'm hoping to expedite this process," Cr Byrne said.
Installing artificial turf can be controversial. Scheduling more frequent and intensive training sessions on local parks can put pressure on roads and parking.
And there are the environmental and health concerns triggered by the use of plastic. According to the Inner West's study, however, health concerns related to the raw materials of turf can be nullified by using virgin rubber or natural cork as a base, though the "grass" will remain plastic.
Colin Hesse, an Inner West Greens councillor said he had not come to a position on the conversion of grass fields to artificial.
"I'm interested to know what the community think. I think there's a level of concern … plastic is not quite the same," he said.
An alternative to installing more artificial fields that can cost a couple of million dollars or more to install, Cr Hesse said, would be to spend more money maintaining grass fields.
Ed Pessego, the secretary of Dulwich Hill FC, which shares Arlington Oval with the Stanmore Hawks, said he had very few complaints about the surface since artificial turf was installed. "Sometimes we have complaints that it could be a bit hard, but the benefits outweigh all that," Mr Pessego said.
"We've never had a washout. And it drains pretty well."
Jacob Saulwick
Jacob Saulwick is City Editor at The Sydney Morning Herald.