Football players have raised concerns regarding the hardness of Ararat’s Alexandra Oval following the Mininera and District Football League round three match at the ground where both the Ararat Eagles and Great Western finished with multiple injuries.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It is only the third time the ground has been used for football this season but there are worries that the process the Ararat Rural City Council parks and gardens staff use to soften the football field up after summer and the cricket season has not achieved its usual success so far.
It is believed the reduced amount of rainfall early in the football season has also played a part with players noticing the ground had softened since heavy rain last month.
Great Western coach Will Bell said that while football is a physical game, he thinks the ground may have contributed to some of the injuries.
"Both teams had a few injuries, I think there were three ankles done and Scott might have done his knee,” he said.
"The ground was pretty hard, my knees and ankles are still pretty sore from my match.”
Eagles playing coach Scott Jackson re-injured his ACL in the match and could have played his last game of football.
Jackson said while it was hard, the club has played on harder grounds before and said it is usual for this time of year.
“Just about every oval has some hardness to it, we have not had a lot of rain, I don’t think it had any impact on any of our injuries but it might have impacted on theirs, i’m not sure.
“I am not too concerned about the condition of Alexandra Oval.”
The ground was first used for the Wimmera Football League season opener between the Ararat Rats and Stawell Warriors on Good Friday with the ground harder than usual but players putting it down to how early in the season it was.
The Ararat Rural City Council released a statement saying the maintenance of Alexandra Oval is a high priority.
“Ararat Rural City Council's Parks and Gardens team undertake daily monitoring of Alexandra Oval from Monday to Friday including mowing, watering and surface inspection,” it said.
“Our turf manager continually assesses conditions and applies extra water where necessary.
“Scheduled maintenance will continue as we move into winter, including renovating the oval surface via aerating in the second week of May.
“Council has regular meetings with both of Alexandra Oval's Football-Netball Club presidents in regards to the entire reserve and facilities, and have not yet received any complaints about the state of the surface in 2018.”
It is believed the council does not do penetrometer readings of the ground.
The Ararat Rats are scheduled to host Dimboola in round three of the Wimmera Football League on Saturday.