The Campbelltown City Kangaroos are one of the oldest rugby league clubs in Australia.
Unfortunately, their home ground in the heart of notorious Housing Commission estate Claymore is the pits.
And from time to time things get even worse, like this week, when club secretary Alex Melville once again put pen to paper to catalogue Fullwood Reserve problems and email the note to Campbelltown Council.
The letter to council was a polite request from Mr Melville for some action to deal with problems such as two stolen cars – one assumes – driven in to Fullwood Reserve – and set on fire. The burned cars are pictured here.
Getting inside the area where the Kangaroos host home games in the Macarthur Conference – the former Group Six competition – is not a problem because there is no gate to stop them.
And that’s one of the issues Mr Melville asks council to help the club resolve once and for all.
“In 2020, we requested for a gate to be placed at the bottom entry of the sporting fields,’’ he writes in the letter to council.
“Your predecessors decided that this was too much work and with improvements pending, there was little point.
“We were promised that 2024 would see the much vaunted amenities improvements materialise.
“January 2024. Nothing. Nil. Nada. Works put back to 2025 due to archaeological issues,’’ writes Mr Melville.
He says that with burned cars and a recent rubbish dump the home ground of this grand old footy club is in a terrible state ahead of a new season.
And it’s no surprise to read this next bit in his letter to council: “We had a player arrive on Tuesday who refused to join due to the surrounds.’’
“The area surrounding the ground is currently highly problematic,’’ writes Mr Melville.
“The fields are isolated, and the club desperately needs in the next week the two burned out cars removed and a massive rubbish clean-up of the site and of the street approaches.
“We would also like a temporary gate placed at the front of the entry.’’
He is also requesting a site meeting to rectify the playing surface which needs top soiling badly before the season, and to fix “the rut in Field 2 that has now been there for seven seasons.’’
Campbelltown Mayor George Greiss acted quickly after the South West Voice alerted him to the Fullwood Reserve problems.
He said council was going to deal with the rubbish, the burned cars and the gate, but it would take a little time as some of these issues were complicated and needed the approval of other authorities.
Fullwood Reserve and the land it’s on is owned by the NSW Department of Housing, who are also responsible for the proposed improvements noted by Mr Melville in his letter.
It is believed the department are blaming the delay on the discovery of Indigenous artefacts near the carpark of Fullwood Reserve.
In the meantime, a frustrated Alex Melville, along with everyone else involved with this iconic Campbelltown sporting club, say that the Kangaroos continue to hold their end up.
“We have secured [former NRL star] Ava Seumanufeagai as our men’s captain-coach,’’ says Melville.
“Eric Grothe Junior and Senior are our women’s coaches in 2024.
“As you’d agree, amazing role models to bring and mentor the area’s youth.’’
