Community sport cancellations continue with record high rainfall for Sydney

Sydney has broken a record for weekend rainfall, with regular deluges on Saturdays and Sundays ruining hundreds of games of local sport and bringing the Harbour City to a halt – thanks to non-stop easterly winds from New Zealand.

Romy Chamberlin, 7, Adelaide Stone, 7, and Hugo Stone, 11, in Pymble on Friday. They play for Gordon Football Club but have been frustrated by the number of times the council have closed the fields due to all the weekend rain. Picture: Richard Dobson

Sydney has broken a record for weekend rainfall, with regular deluges on Saturdays and Sundays ruining hundreds of games of local sport and bringing the Harbour City to a halt – thanks to non-stop easterly winds from New Zealand.

The average rainfall in 2024 from April to June has been 27mm for Saturdays and 23mm for Sundays, an unwanted record, while the rest of the week has recorded relatively typical patterns with slightly more wet weather than usual.

UNSW Associate Professor and Director of the Water Research Centre Dr Fiona Johnson said the non-stop wet weather across Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays throughout the year has been “unusual”.

“I play soccer and my daughter plays soccer,” she said, adding continued cancelled games led her to research the weekend weather patterns.

“I didn’t remember a season where we had so many wet weekends.

Romy, Adelaide and Hugo play for Gordon Football Club and have been frustrated by the number of times the council have closed the fields due to all the weekend rain. Picture: Richard Dobson

“To see that it was the wettest (year) on record (I thought), oh wow.”

Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said eight out of the last eleven weekends have had rainfall in Sydney, and this weekend is no different.

“There is definitely a chance of rain this weekend. It won’t be steady, heavy rain, just showers.”

“On Saturday the Bureau is forecasting 0-4mm, Sunday 1-7mm with a high chance of showers on both days.”

Mr Domensino described the sheer amount of rain on Saturdays and Sundays this year as “unusual” also.

The volume of weekend rain this year is unusual.

“If we look at the month of June, the average numbers of rain days was thirteen. The average number of rain days this May was thirteen. That’s less than half of the days of the month, so to have so many of those rainy days on weekends is unusual and unlucky for sport.”

The unwanted weekend rain is courtesy of frequent easterly winds carrying moisture from the Tasman Sea over Sydney.

The Tasman winds have been kept strong by a near record setting high pressure system sitting over Tasmania, which is “controlling a lot of the weather over southeastern Australia” Mr Domensino said.

“For Sydney it means lots of easterly winds, more showers and for sport – more interruptions.”

Romy, Adelaide and Hugo have had to hone their skills indoors. Picture: Richard Dobson

BOM Senior Meteorologist Stephen Stefanac said there is “no particular reason” as to why the rain has consistently fallen over the weekends rather than weekdays.

“By chance it (the rain) is falling on the weekend.”

It comes as some sporting clubs are being forced to refund players fees, with games and training sessions repeatedly washed out and teams missing out in over half their scheduled rounds.

Among them is Gordon FC in Sydney’s north shore, who are refunding a portion of fees paid by families for training sessions, due to continued wash outs, closed grounds and cancellations, despite still forking out the fee for those facilities.

“This season is worse with the games we have been able to play compared to the really wet season in 2022,” Gordon FC Club president Aiden Heke said.

“It puts a lot of burden on the volunteer committee as most committees across the football club are volunteers.”

Saiala Oval in East Killara is the home-ground of Gordon FC.

The club’s two home grounds, Darnley Oval in Gordon and Saiala Oval in East Killara, have been covered in pools of water and mud over the last two weeks, with the fields – which have poor draining — usually the first closed by the council and last reopened.

Mr Heke said the club elected to “take a bit of responsibility” and refund some of the player’s fees to try to “provide value for money for parents.”

“Football is growing but the limit is expense, it’s not an inexpensive sport,” he said.

“When you compare it (fees) to the amount of games you get in a season, some parents would feel it's not a great value for money (and) we are aware we’ve got to try to provide value for money for parents.

Mr Heke said the club was working to petition the local council, apply for grants and secure funding as a long term aspiration to mitigate the continued wet weather and get kids back outside.

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Originally published as Community sport cancellations continue with record high rainfall for Sydney