An under-18 girls football team is training in darkness because lights have yet to be installed at their home ground, seven years after opening to the public.
Parents have resorted to parking their cars along the boundary line and switching their headlights on when the Point Cook Football Club’s under-18s team trains on Tuesday and Thursday night at Saltwater Reserve oval one, so the girls aren’t training in total darkness.
One parent, who wished not to be named, said the team of 28 girls had started training slightly earlier to get in as much daylight as possible. Once dark, the team relies on car headlights or moves to the precinct’s synthetic ground, which is not appropriate for tackling and other footy drills.
The $26 million Saltwater Reserve was opened in 2011, with oval one the only oval yet to have lights installed.
Wyndham council city life director Jenny McMahon said the oval was one of five sporting fields across the city that would receive LED lighting by the middle of the year.
“In the meantime, the Point Cook Football Club has been allocated two other ovals at Saltwater Reserve, both of which have lighting,” she said.
Another parent, who also wanted to remain anonymous, said they were flummoxed as to why the lights were being installed in the middle of the year.
“The infrastructure for the lights has been there, from what I understand, since the ground was implemented.
“They’ve got three ovals, and their number one oval, which has all the equipment – the scoreboards and everything facing it – doesn’t have lights. It doesn’t make any sense.”
