Wollongong City Council is committed to providing safe, welcoming and accessible sporting facilities that support the wide range of sports enjoyed by our growing community.
We understand the recent concerns raised by players, families and sporting clubs about covered concrete cricket pitches at some shared sporting grounds, including Bulli Park and St James Park, Coledale. Community safety is our highest priority, and we're taking these concerns seriously.
Council is currently reviewing the use of covered concrete cricket pitches at the five locations across Wollongong that have these types of pitches installed. We are carrying out impact and surface hardness testing, and the results of the testing will help finalise a detailed risk assessment and any required recommendations. This testing will determine whether the existing padded synthetic covers are suitable for use at shared sporting fields. Should modifications or alternative cover solutions be identified as necessary, these will be implemented prior to the commencement of the 2027 winter sporting season.
The cricket pitches under review are covered with padded synthetic covers. This is an absorbent pad that is placed over concrete cricket pitches during the winter sports season. These are commonly used at sporting grounds across Australia and many councils across the country are undertaking similar reviews as they work through the same questions being raised by many sporting communities.
In the meantime, to ensure players can continue to play safely while the review is underway, impacted games at Bulli Park and St James Park, Coledale have been relocated for the remainder of the 2026 winter season.
Because there is no football-specific guideline available for assessing these surfaces, Council is using recognised AFL guidelines to ensure the testing process follows an established sporting approach. Once the testing is complete and Council has reviewed the findings, we'll provide an update to affected clubs and meet with stakeholders to discuss the next steps.
We appreciate Bulli Junior Football Club and Coledale Waves and other sporting groups bringing their concerns about the pitches to our attention and engaging with us throughout this process. Council remains committed to working closely with all local clubs, associations and governing bodies, including Football South Coast, Cricket Illawarra and Cricket NSW to find practical solutions that support safe participation in sport.
With more than 220 playing fields across the Wollongong Local Government Area, Council works hard to balance available funding with the growing demand for quality sporting facilities across different codes. While strong growth in participation is positive for a healthy and connected community, increased demand places additional pressure on our fields and contributes to increased wear and tear across the network.
Over the past 12 months, Council has increased maintenance activities at Bulli Park and other sporting grounds, including additional turf aeration during the playing season, increased top dressing works and turf improvement programs.
Our sporting grounds are shared community assets that support a variety of sports, including cricket, football (soccer), rugby league and Oztag. While each sport has different facility requirements, sharing grounds allows us to maximise community access and support as many people as possible to stay active and involved in local sport.
Council is committed to working with the sporting community to provide safe, quality facilities and to ensure our sporting grounds can continue to be enjoyed by players, volunteers, officials and families across the Wollongong area.
