Young netballers try out the newly upgraded courts at Fred Finch Park. Photo: Wollongong City Council.
Illawarra netballers are celebrating the end of work to upgrade eight courts at Berkeley’s Fred Finch Park, in time for a major carnival later this month.
The courts were resurfaced and painted, and lines were marked, while substructural drainage work addressed problems with water pooling on the courts during and after heavy rain.
It follows the first stage of work which was completed in early 2023 and included the upgrade of 16 of the park’s netball courts.
Hundreds of young netballers from across the state are expected to take part in the Illawarra District Netball Association’s carnival on 28 July.
Association president Peiti Haines said about 2500 players, volunteers and spectators were at the courts each week during the April to September competition season.
“Fred Finch Park is the home of netball in the Illawarra and the completed work builds a platform for the future of sport in the area,” Ms Haines said.
“We were really thrilled to have the second stage of netball courts completed. Some of the existing courts were unusable following years of surface degradation and every rain or weather event adding to this problem.
“The players now have new surfaces to play on which are more resilient in wet weather.
“Given the season we have had so far in 2024, this has been a blessing with many other sports needing to close grounds and cancel where we have been able to minimise disruption to our season.
“The ongoing support from Wollongong City Council, Netball NSW as well as State and Federal government grants has brought this facility to a great competition standard for teams from across the Illawarra area.
“We are proud to work in partnership with Illawarra Sports Stadium to continue to advocate for support for the stadium expansion, which will also include updated facilities for our players, volunteers and spectators as they enjoy these amazing courts.
“We also continue to work with Wollongong City Council to consider how our northern region may also be better resourced for safe, accessible and local training facilities.”
The work in the second stage received $1 million in funding from the NSW Government under its Essential Community Sports Assets Program Infrastructure Grants.
Planning and Public Spaces Minister and Wollongong MP Paul Scully said the works would make the courts better and safer for players, officials and spectators.
“Fred Finch Park is the home of netball in the Illawarra, and these improvements will enable the facility to host Netball NSW State carnivals providing economic benefit to the community and better playing and officials’ facilities,” Mr Scully said.
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