The Gunners Soccer Club have experienced tremendous growth over the past few years.
The downside to this success has been the wear and tear on the club’s home ground, Hazlett Oval in Macquarie Fields.
But now the future is looking bright because new floodlighting has been installed, allowing use of the facility at night as well as daylight.
Gary Phillips, the president of the Gunners, says that investing in quality lighting at Hazlett Oval will unlock its potential for night training, thus significantly reducing wear and tear on the primary playing field.
“We are very blessed to have such a great and successful club, however more than doubling our capacity over the last 10 years to over 650 members has put a massive strain on our fields,’’ he said.
“Weekly training and so many competitions, State Cup and Australia Cup games considerably wears out our fields.
“By improving the lighting at our training ground across the road, we can utilise this oval so much more and reduce wear and tear to our main playing fields used for playing.
“This will truly make a massive difference to our club,’’ Mr Phillips said.
The $160,000 project to install the flood lights was funded by the NSW Government through the NSW Football legacy round two, and Campbelltown City Council.
The State Government’s contribution was $60,000.
Member for Macquarie Fields, Anoulack Chanthivong, said the floodlighting would be an excellent addition to Hazlett Oval, which will see greater use of this community facility by local sporting groups.
“The NSW Government is proud to partner with Council to deliver flood lights at Hazlett Oval to meet Australian Standards and help boost participation in sport across the electorate,” he said.
Hazlett Oval caters to a number of different sports, including football and cricket.
Mayor of Campbelltown, Cr Darcy Lound, said the project was a great example of local government and state government working together to ensure positive outcomes for sporting clubs, which provide a healthy and quality lifestyle for the local community.
