injuryupdate
23-10-2005, 05:51 PM
Hard to get people to be more physically active if there aren't enough playing fields around. Another example of the government being completely inactive itself in reacting to the obesity epidemic.
From Saturday Daily Telegraph:
Nowhere to play
By JOSH MASSOUD and MARK SHLIEBS
October 22, 2005
YOUNGSTERS are being turned away from weekend sport in droves because of a playing fields crisis leaving them nowhere to compete.
With parents enrolling children in record numbers, a Saturday Daily Telegraph investigation has found that at least 100 cricket teams, 60 soccer sides and scores of touch football teams have been knocked back for registration this year.
The squeeze on the city's sporting facilities has now reached breaking point, with two-thirds of Sydney's councils not creating a new sports field for 10 years.
In some areas where populations have exploded, they have even closed fields.
Children desperate to take part are being forced to train at makeshift facilities such as bowling greens and school playgrounds.
There are even calls for cricket – which is the nation's summer game – to be wound back to make way for other sports that take up less space for shorter periods, and for some winter sports to be moved to summer to allow more games during daylight saving.
The sport boom follows warnings of a childhood obesiity epidemic.
Taren Point Touch Football secretary Aileen May said: "The Government is doing this campaign about obesity and encouraging people to play sport – but there just aren't enough fields."
Hurstville Council, with a soaring population due to urban consolidation, has lost two sports fields in the past decade and nearby Rockdale and possibly Liverpool also have fewer fields than in 1995.
Blacktown, one of the fastest-growing municipalities, has not added any new playing areas.
This has been despite the city's population growing as much as 20 per cent in some areas.
Planning consultant Ken Marriott, who was hired to investigate parks management for three councils, said the shortage was a disaster.
"You could increase the number of metropolitan grounds by a third and it still wouldn't be enough," he said.
Clubs blame councils for failing to plan for basic community needs, along with the Department of Planning.
Sports clubs in areas crammed with young families such as the Sutherland Shire, Hills District and Northern Beaches have all knocked back junior players.
Wakehurst Football club vice president Andrew Edwards said new developments don't augur well for the future.
"We have new housing developments going up, but no new sports fields," he said. "Our numbers have gone up from 600 to 1500 in the past 15 years."
NSW Centre for Obesity and Overweight president Michael Booth is concerned giant strides in health awareness now risk being tripped up.
From Saturday Daily Telegraph:
Nowhere to play
By JOSH MASSOUD and MARK SHLIEBS
October 22, 2005
YOUNGSTERS are being turned away from weekend sport in droves because of a playing fields crisis leaving them nowhere to compete.
With parents enrolling children in record numbers, a Saturday Daily Telegraph investigation has found that at least 100 cricket teams, 60 soccer sides and scores of touch football teams have been knocked back for registration this year.
The squeeze on the city's sporting facilities has now reached breaking point, with two-thirds of Sydney's councils not creating a new sports field for 10 years.
In some areas where populations have exploded, they have even closed fields.
Children desperate to take part are being forced to train at makeshift facilities such as bowling greens and school playgrounds.
There are even calls for cricket – which is the nation's summer game – to be wound back to make way for other sports that take up less space for shorter periods, and for some winter sports to be moved to summer to allow more games during daylight saving.
The sport boom follows warnings of a childhood obesiity epidemic.
Taren Point Touch Football secretary Aileen May said: "The Government is doing this campaign about obesity and encouraging people to play sport – but there just aren't enough fields."
Hurstville Council, with a soaring population due to urban consolidation, has lost two sports fields in the past decade and nearby Rockdale and possibly Liverpool also have fewer fields than in 1995.
Blacktown, one of the fastest-growing municipalities, has not added any new playing areas.
This has been despite the city's population growing as much as 20 per cent in some areas.
Planning consultant Ken Marriott, who was hired to investigate parks management for three councils, said the shortage was a disaster.
"You could increase the number of metropolitan grounds by a third and it still wouldn't be enough," he said.
Clubs blame councils for failing to plan for basic community needs, along with the Department of Planning.
Sports clubs in areas crammed with young families such as the Sutherland Shire, Hills District and Northern Beaches have all knocked back junior players.
Wakehurst Football club vice president Andrew Edwards said new developments don't augur well for the future.
"We have new housing developments going up, but no new sports fields," he said. "Our numbers have gone up from 600 to 1500 in the past 15 years."
NSW Centre for Obesity and Overweight president Michael Booth is concerned giant strides in health awareness now risk being tripped up.