Fairfield Liverpool Cricket Association push for Liverpool’s first indoor cricket centre
A surge in south west Sydney cricket teams has sparked calls for the region’s first indoor cricket centre. See what teams are asking for.
Liverpool
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A surge in south west Sydney cricket teams has sparked calls for Liverpool’s first indoor cricket centre – as players reveal they are forced to travel more than 30 minutes to train for weekend competitions.
President of the Fairfield Liverpool Cricket Association Peter Moore, said facilities have failed to keep up with demand as the number of Liverpool cricket teams has “exploded” in the last decade.
“The Liverpool side is just booming with cricketers … 11 years ago Liverpool had eight junior teams and now we have 42 junior teams,” he said.
“We have all the new estates being built like Austral, Middleton Grange, Edmondson Park and there’s a lot of cricket loving families looking for a place to send their kids to play,” he said.
Mr Moore said the association’s biggest surge in players was in Hoxton Park following the creation of the Hoxton Park Tigers in 2019.
“Four years ago there wasn’t a junior team in Hoxton Park and now we have 20 teams with 250 registered players as I noticed back then there were a big group of kids looking for a team,” he said.
Despite the growth in players, Mr Moore said the teams have to fight for a field in Liverpool during weekend competitions and weekday training.
“What happens on a Saturday morning is we’ve completely run out of grounds in the Liverpool area so we have to send them out to Fairfield and it can be a bit of a trip for parents,” he said.
The 2024 AOM recipient said an indoor cricket pitch was crucial for Liverpool as players have to travel to Kingsgrove and Silverwater to train, especially during wet weather.
“During winter we don’t have many grounds to hire because they go to the football teams but if we had an indoor centre we could train the teams close to home,” he said.
“At the moment we also have no protection so we’re open to the elements whether it’s the rain or extreme heat in the summer.”
Mr Moore’s vision for the indoor centre has “the potential” to be one of the biggest in south west Sydney due to community demand.
“The centre would include six lanes of nets, office and reception space, mens and women's facilities,” he said.
“The centre would get inundated and we would need to take bookings as people currently need to travel to train indoors.”
While he estimates the cost for the centre could range between eight to ten million dollars, Mr Moore said he’d look at fundraising with the association, state government grants and inquiring with Cricket NSW and Liverpool Council to help fund the project.
“It would be a good investment for the council as if they built it and booked it out they would get a good return,” he said.
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