Baseball v croquet: Ballina council on Cawarra Park future

The future of baseball at Cawarra Park hangs in the balance as Ballina council decides whether it’s hammer time for croquet to move into the facility. Read why the stakes are high in this winner takes all battle.

Cawarra Park in Ballina. Photo: Ballina Shire Council.

Croquet and baseball are two sports that rarely go mallet-in-mitt, but there’s a turf war on for athletic and old at Ballina in the state’s north.

The battleground centres on Cawarra Park, and a $3 million master plan to make it all that it can be on the back of a raft of improvements.

The two sports both want a piece of the action, and Ballina Shire Council as arbiter debated the standoff at its regular monthly meeting this morning (October 27).

Most of the money in the redevelopment is fingered for the build of an amenity building near the sporting fields and the waterfront.

The pinchpoint for council is a suggestion to replace the baseball and softball fields with croquet facilities at Cawarra Park.

In the draft master plan, there are two scenarios, one being that the baseball fields remain, and the other is that they are replaced by croquet fields.

Council staff have weighed in for the retention of the baseball fields.

Councillor Phillip Meehan said the broader community wants to see Cawarra Park remain as a field of dreams with open green spaces.

“It’s something that croquet lawns, just through their nature, will change,” Mr Meehan said.

“Because if you have a croquet lawn you have to keep people off those croquet lawns.

“You can’t allow kids to play cricket, you can’t allow people to walk their dogs on it. You can’t allow people to picnic on it, and those things will be lost from the area.”

Mr Meehan argued the croquet community was already well served by the lawns at Hampton Park, where there is scope to grow.

“The expansion of croquet lawns at Hampton Park comes in millions of dollars cheaper than developing a new facility at Cawarra Park,” he said.

“We do have a wonderful facility at Hampton Park … we do have two clubs co-sharing that park (already).”

But Cr Jeff Johnson pointed out that Hampton Park has flooding and drainage issues, making it unsuitable.

Mr Johnson figured the cost of creating a croquet space at Cawarra would be no more expensive than adding two courts and a clubhouse at Hampton.

He noted the Cawarra baseball fields are also too small for professional competition.

“I think for the sake of baseball, we need to be looking at relocating it not spending millions of dollars on an area that isn’t big enough for the seniors to even have a game,” Mr Johnson said.

But Cr Rod Bruen said the softball and baseball activities currently at Cawarra Park allow the general public to use the open space, and the existing clubs don’t want to move.

“Sure, it might not meet US competition standards, but it’s perfectly fine for the needs of the clubs,” Mr Bruen said.

All councillors voted to defer the matter, except for Jeff Johnson.