Nobody needs a news report to tell them it has been relentlessly wet for almost a week and that we have received a month’s rain in that time.
But over the weekend, Campbelltown Sports Stadium came in for praise from far and wide because its drainage system passed possibly its biggest test ever with flying colours.
Both scheduled games of A-League and NRL went ahead despite some concerns that cancellations would be the order of the day.
“Our ground staff have worked tirelessly over the years to maintain the field and drainage system and ensured the pitch was ready to host the weekend’s double header of football despite the wet weather,’’ says Campbelltown mayor George Brticevic.
“The playing surface at Campbelltown Sports Stadium has always been of a world class standard to host elite sporting events and is capable of draining 460 millilitres of water an hour.
“It was fantastic to see the drainage and quality playing surface enabled both games to be played safely and to a high standard,” he told the South West Voice this afternoon.
On Saturday, when storm cells across Campbelltown produced waves of torrential rain in the early afternoon, it was assumed the A-League clash between Macarthur Fc Bulls and Western United would be postponed.
Halfway through the day it was announced another A-League scheduled not far from here – Sydney FC v Melbourne Victory at Kogarah – had been cancelled.
The Bulls versus Western United match was scheduled to kick off from 5.05pm, and fans would have been pessimistic about the chances of it going ahead.
But it did indeed go ahead, and not only that, the Bulls rewarded the few brave fans who went to Campbelltown Stadium with a 2-1 victory, snapping a two game losing streak.
Almost 24 hours later, Campbelltown Stadium was scheduled to host the NRL match between Wests Tigers and the Sydney Roosters.
And again, despite the rain persisting for most of the day the match kicked off just after 4pm, with the drainage system of the ground the hero of the day again.
The Channel 9 commentators were full of praise for the ground staff and the council.
Any criticism they had was reserved for the “local’’ footy team, which suffered a humiliating 40-6 defeat at the hands of the Roosters.
Wests Tigers are now 0 and 2 after the first two rounds of the premiership and need to turn things around in a hurry.
As for Campbelltown Council, they deserve all the accolades for installing a world class drainage system in a great sporting facility.
Now if only the State government would come to the party and upgrade the rest of the stadium, as it ought to, we could end up with a world class stadium to go with the brilliant drainage system.
