How did the flood impact sports fields?
Published on 11 June 2025
Days of consistent sunshine have helped dry flood-soaked sports fields across the Macleay. While hard surfaces like the Kempsey netball courts have been cleaned fields, there are still some of Council’s 10 bookable outdoor fields that will take significantly longer to dry and repair, such as fields in Gladstone and Smithtown.
Another major challenge with resuming full access and capacity for sports fields is the damage that the flood caused to lighting systems. The water damaged the operating systems for lighting towers at Verge and Eden Street, Smithtown and Kemp Street sporting fields.
During the darker winter months, lighting is essential for our fields. Council staff and contractors have managed to restore some lighting, particularly on the Verge and Eden Street facilities. There are currently 10 clubs and approximately 100 teams needing to train twice a week on these fields.
Staff are working directly with the sporting clubs across all codes to keep them informed, adjust booking times and create as much fairness and access as possible. Council understand that community sport is important for helping residents to maintain connections, stay healthy and return to normal after a natural disaster.
Understanding and measuring cost and impact of this sports infrastructure repair is part of the ongoing flood recovery review and negotiations are taking place between Council and other levels of government.
Council will continue working directly with community sports clubs to manage access and keep them informed of repair progress.
The Sports Field Status page on Council’s website is a great resource to stay informed about access to facilities. The surface conditions of the fields are checked in the early afternoon on weekdays during periods of wet weather. The status of each field is updated on the website page and links published to social media as close as possible to 2pm Monday to Friday. For more information check out https://ksc.pub/fields