Friday 13 July, 2012
The Gipps Street soccer fields, No. 1 Oval and Plain Street fields were closed yesterday and remain closed today.
Following an inspection of the fields just before noon today and discussions with affected sports groups, a decision was made not to reopen them over the weekend.
The Swans AFL team was scheduled to play on No. 1 Oval tomorrow while Premier League soccer was scheduled for Gipps Street.
There was 19.6mm of rainfall recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology at Tamworth Airport in the 24 hours to 9am today. There was 4.6mm recorded in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday and 20mm to 9am on Wednesday.
Tamworth Regional Council Parks and Horticulture Manager, Brian Sheedy, said the fields are quite wet following this week’s rain. 'While no rain is forecast for Saturday, the steady consistent rain has saturated the fields – there are actually pools of water at No. 1 Oval', he said.
‘We want to prevent any damage to the playing surfaces which may affect the condition of fields as competitions enter the finals of the season, so the logical decision was to keep players off them this weekend'.