Councils are too quick to close wet grounds
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Is anyone else asking why it's been raining so much? Look, thank goodness the sun's finally out. The forecast looks a little bit better for the coming days, so hopefully things can dry out a touch. But honestly, it's been so wet and miserable. More like London than Sydney, and it's not usually this wet in winter, is it? And I looked it up, so we've had more than 12 months of rain already, and it's only July. So I've had 12 months of rainfall, and it's July.

And there's been a whole bunch of reasons for it. So there's a combination of a slow-moving weather system, persistent low-pressure troughs, and in plain English, that means that the rain clouds are hanging over longer than usual, dumping water over the same areas day after day after day after day. And those areas are the city of Sydney. So it's like the weather's been stuck on repeat a little, and we've had frequent easterly winds that have been carrying moisture from the Tasman Sea too.

And those wins have been just rolling in because of a high pressure system sitting over Tasmania. Now, I'm not complaining about having wet washing or mud under my feet. What I am upset about is the kids who've had to miss out on winter sports. I read this story a few days when I was on holidays. And in some competitions, the kids have only been able to get sort of five or six weeks of competition away so far this season.

Because our councils keep shutting the sporting grounds. Now, here's a question for you. Are sports grounds for sports or are sports grounds parks so we can keep them pristine for dog walkers? Who cares if they're a bit muddy? Now, this is like shutting golf courses when it rains. Now, a golf course exists to play golf on, just like a footy or soccer field exists to play footy or soccer on, right?

So sure, if there are pools of water on the ground, that's a different story. But if a bit of mud with a few showers, surely council should allow play on. Now, 131873 tell me, have your kids' seasons been disrupted? Because we've had some sporting clubs actually be forced to refund players' fees. I read this one.

Kids have missed out in half of their scheduled rounds, so Gordon FC, Gordon Football Club, has paid back a portion of fees to families for training sessions and games that have been abandoned due to washouts. So, honestly, unless the fields are absolutely unusable, a damp or muddy field should not stop the sport being played. And the council will go, oh, we don't want to ruin it, but ruin it for who?

The sports fields are there to play sport on for the kids, right? And there's a lot of chat about all-weather pitches and synthetic grass, but they're expensive and they're not right for every suburb. And the jury's out too about whether there's health risks posed from recycled tyres and rubber underneath the synthetic grass. So this is pretty simple in my view.

If it's muddy, it doesn't matter. The ovals do not exist to make the councils close them. They exist for the people to use. Tell me your story. How often have you had sport cancelled over the last few months? What do you think?