WOLLONGONG City Council will consider extending the winter sport season, in the wake of extensive disruptions to the 2024 season due to extreme and ongoing wet weather.

Greens Councillor Mithra Cox has submitted a Notice of Motion calling for the extension, as well as for a long-term climate adaptation plan for community sport to deal with heatwaves, droughts and extreme rainfall.

“This is the second season in three years to have severely restricted community sports through ongoing wet weather,” Cr Cox said.

“Many teams have played less than five games since April, with more games being cancelled than have been played. This is incredibly frustrating, especially for the hundreds of new football players who have registered off the back of the Matilda’s success at the World Cup. To keep those players engaged, we need a way to ensure they can actually play.

“While some solutions will need time and money and planning, there are some quick fixes that could be employed to extend the season this year.

“With the simple addition of line markings and temporary goals, some unused fields could be freed up to enable the season to overlap with the cricket season, or we could work with schools to access some of their grounds,” Cr Cox said.

Jess Whittaker, Greens candidate for Lord Mayor and Ward 1 said climate impacts are already significantly impacting community sport, and are only forecast to get worse.

“It’s important to start planning now so that our community members of all ages can continue to play sport in the summer or winter seasons,”, Ms Whittaker said.

“Facilities like all weather multi-use sports venues are big and expensive and take many years to fund, so the work needs to start now if we are to have these sportsgrounds in the future.

“There are many things we can do to protect against extreme heat and extreme rainfall, like planting shade, improving drainage and having a smaller number of indoor all-weather venues. But these things won’t happen overnight,” Ms Whittaker said.

“We need to start planning now.”

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