Darcy Lound loves sport, period: league, soccer, cricket, you name it, the Mayor of Campbelltown is a fair dinkum, dinky-di sport nut.
Which means he knows what’s what, especially when it comes to the big two sporting organisations that represent Campbelltown at the highest level, Macarthur FC in the A-League and Wests Tigers in the NRL.
More importantly, having been on Campbelltown Council for more than 12 years, he knows where improvements are needed most when it comes to our sporting facilities.
Especially Campbelltown Stadium.
“Our stadium, as we know, is fairly old and we definitely do need an upgrade, especially on the Pembroke Road end, where there’s no cover for spectators, from the sun or the rain,’’ he tells the South Wests Voice when we sit down for his first major media interview since his election on October 16 last year.
“The corporate facilities have also aged: they’re OK, but I would like that any upgrade funding we get goes towards general admission seats as well as the corporate facilities at Campbelltown Stadium,’’ Cr Lound said.
While the mayor is obviously happy the Bulls already play all of their home games at Campbelltown, he wants to see a similar commitment from the Wests Tigers.
Indeed, to get funding for an upgrade this will have to be the case, and Mayor Lound knows it.
“Personally, I would like to see the Wests Tigers stick to their heartlands at Campbelltown and Leichhardt,’’ says Cr Lound.
“But I really do think that with our juniors and the growth out here, we’d want to see the Tigers play around eight games here.
““I think here is the heartland, and you’ve got all the junior development.
“I will be calling on the Tigers to play eight, nine games here and only 3-4 at Leichhardt in the future.
“I hope to sit around the table with the Tigers to see if we can bring that about.’’
For years Darcy Lound was called the “mayor of Minto’’ because it’s where he was brought up and still lives there with his family.
There were plenty of people who didn’t think he’d make it as mayor. Slowly but surely Mayor Darcy Lound is proving the doubters wrong.
But you get the feeling his best is yet to come.
He says he’s about to launch a new initiative, Meet the Mayor Mondays, which will have him out and about out in the community on the first day of the working week.
“I will be going to all the parts of the local government area to meet the community and have a chat with them,’’ he says.
“I am enjoying it, being the mayor and civic leader of Campbelltown.
“I am also enjoying working a lot closely with the CEO and the senior staff to get a better understanding of how we do things.
“But I am also enjoying the challenges of making Campbelltown an even better place to live,’’ he says.
One of his personal goals as mayor is to set the foundations for the development of the Campbelltown railway corridor, from Macarthur to Glenfield.
The state government wants to see more housing near railway stations as part of the solution to the housing shortage crisis.
“Especially at Ingleburn and Campbelltown, our two CBDs, I want to move as fast as I can to set the tone for the developments to come,’’ says Cr Lound.
“My aim is to give young families an opportunity to buy a home, to provide housing opportunity here in Campbelltown.’’
That’s great that the Mayor wants more games but maybe he should tell that to the management of the Council who knocked back the Wests Tigers when they wanted to play an extra game against the Sharks at Campbelltown on the Anzac Day weekend. Very ordinary effort.