Despite the growth in Canberra’s population, sports facilities in the ACT are sadly lacking. Photo: File.
Vision of the UC Capitals playing Adelaide Lightning in a school gym in December should, hopefully, be a wake-up call to initiate action on Canberra’s depleted sports facilities.
The move to a school gym was necessitated by a power failure at the Capitals’ temporary home, the National Convention Centre, while the AIS Arena undergoes a seemingly endless renovation.
AIS Arena is ‘temporarily’ closed …. define temporarily. Photo: Tim Gavel.
Of course, it wasn’t just any school gym, it was the Radford College facility, which is up there with the best in the school system in the ACT.
The mothballing of the AIS Arena since 2020 with concerns about fire safety has effectively stymied the growth of major indoor sport in the city for three years.
This has resulted in an absence of Super Netball, NBL and volleyball.
There is continuing speculation about the University of Canberra’s aspirations to establish an indoor facility to cater for the Capitals and indoor sport in the future, but it is yet to get off the ground.
Aerial artist’s impression of Throsby’s Home of Football. Photo: ACT YourSay Conversations.
Also yet to fully take flight is the Home of Football at Throsby, which received a boost in July 2023 with the approval of the Estate Development Plan.
It remains to be seen how long it will be before the Home of Football hosts any football, though.
There is also the request from Hockey ACT for an upgrade to the Lyneham Hockey Centre playing surface if Canberra is to host international hockey.
Part of the crowd at the Lyneham Hockey Centre in October 2023 to watch the Canberra Chill. Photo: Canberra Chill Facebook.
McKellar Stadium, home to Canberra United, also needs an upgrade. Parking around the ground is also an issue.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Canberra’s sporting facilities.
At least 15 years ago, I campaigned about the lack of facilities planned for the ACT, given the growth in population and the lack of sporting facilities to correspond with that population growth.
Town centres were being built seemingly without enough thought given to the sporting requirements of people moving into medium-density housing.
It has resulted in basketball and futsal competitions searching for facilities, often ending with teams playing in school halls and gyms.
It is an extraordinary situation in which we find ourselves, particularly when smaller centres, such as Wagga Wagga and Albury, boast, in some cases, superior facilities.
Stromlo Forest Park is a world-class venue in the ACT. Photo: Stromlo Forest Park Facebook.
To give credit to the ACT Government, there has been progress for some sports in Canberra – the drawing board is definitely full and items are being ticked off: the ice sports facility will hopefully get off the ground this year, there are new tennis courts in Gungahlin, a track and field complex at Woden, the planned multi-purpose Philip sports ground, the proposed expansion of the Belconnen Basketball Stadium, the Molonglo Aquatics Facility, Mount Stromlo Forest Park, Manuka Oval, Football Park Philip, the baseball faculty at Narrabundah and the Netball Centre at Lyneham.
While there has been progress, we are playing catch-up after years of lack of foresight into the needs of a growing population.
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