Rain Rain go away.......

An all too typical situation. A down pour of rain on the last few days of the working week cancels all games for the weekend. The weather on the weekend itself was not so bad, good enough to play in. Many will argue why the games couldn't go ahead, many kids had the boots strapped up and were ready to play yet were stuck indoors, having to satisfy their sporting aspirations through the latest playstation game.

The heavy downpour of the days prior to weekend had left the pitches as soggy as a wet biscuit. I went for a casual kick with a friend at my local oval and had to agree that, despite my disappoint of not playing a game, if all games went ahead the ovals would have been left looking like a minefield. A slide tackle or 2 would have left a mark that looked like someone had taken a V8 and ripped a few burn outs.

The numbers of those missing out are staggering. For my club alone 2000 men and women, children and adults went without their weekly dose of sporting activity. For the association the number is 15,000. And this is just for football. In an age of increasing health problems across all genres and ages surely the powers to be would recognise that the cost of improving sport facilities and hence increasing participation is far less than the cost of supporting a state health system which is already struggling to meet the health needs of the public. One will always agree, prevention is better than cure.

What are the solutions? Improve drainage, build more indoor facilities, install artificial turf, purchase water absorbing machinery, employ full-time grounds keepers? All long term strategies that need money and the will of our local and state politicians .

Anyway, in the short term it has been raining all day today(Monday) and forecast till at least Thursday. Training will be cancelled but let's hope we can all get on the pitch this weekend!