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                    Sports ground use and permits

                    Muddy kids in sports uniforms
                    Playing sport is one of the keys ways of keeping active, fit and healthy. Participating in team sports also provides many opportunities to engage, network and connect with people in your community.

                    The City of Melbourne provides a number of options to keep active outdoors, across its beautiful parks and gardens, all year round.

                    COVID-19 update
                    City of Melbourne’s Recreation and Waterways branch continues to work closely with the Department of Health, Sport and Recreation Victoria, state sporting associations, sports clubs and the broader community to mitigate the spread of COVID-19, when using its facilities.

                    Formal use of sports facilities is provided through a permit process.

                    • Casual sport permit: Formal and organised sports activity for once-off or short term use such as office matches, fundraising matches and events or school use.
                    • Seasonal sport permit: More than 100 established sporting clubs operate in the City of Melbourne catering to a wide and diverse demographic. A seasonal permit is issued twice a year to clubs returning each season to train and play competition over the course of each season, Summer or Winter.
                    • Personal training and small group fitness: Aside from sports fields, there are a number of selected lawns to choose from to operate small group fitness activities.

                    Do I always need a permit?

                    A sports permit provides formal approval for use that is being planned and organised, for a specific time or date, and in designated parks and gardens. A permit is not required if you are:

                    • not needing a formal sports field setup with line-markings or goals
                    • casually recreating with 5 to 10 people
                    • not  associated with a sports club or a social group.

                    There is a vast network of jogging and running tracks in the City of Melbourne, which may be booked.

                    Sports events that require the use of infrastructure or not being held in our sports parks may need further approvals and an Event permit may be more relevant. If you are planning on hosting an event with sporting activity, an application for an event permit is required.

                    To find out which sports can be played and at which park, view the Our Sports Parks section directly below.

                    Our sports parks

                    Six parks in the municipality have sports fields available for hire each season. Sports offered are specific to the season in play.

                    Summer sports are in progress from October to March and winter sports come into effect April to September. Use our ​ interactive map or view the expandable sections below to see what facilities we have on offer at the City of Melbourne to play organised sport.

                    You can enquire about programmed and formal sports use by emailing seasonalsport@melbourne.vic.gov.au.

                    Sports permits

                    Schools, clubs and other organisations that need to use a formal sports field must obtain a sports permit.

                    There are three permits relating to the use of our sports grounds:

                    If you want to organise a walkathon, marathon or run, you need to obtain an event permit. Similarly, sporting events bringing in more than three pieces of infrastructure to a park need to obtain an event permit.

                    For information see Organising events and Event permits.

                    When permits are not required

                    A permit is not required if:

                    • using a field that does not have sports line marking or goals
                    • small participation numbers i.e. 12 and less
                    • the activity is not associated with a sports club
                    • the activity is not re-occurring.

                    Child Safe Standards 

                    All Victorian organisations that provide services to children (0-18) are required under the Child Wellbeing and Safety Act 2005 to comply with Child Safe Standards (CSS).

                    The CSS can be found at Making children safe.

                    The Permit holder must comply with the CSS and ensure that any persons who use Council’s facilities pursuant to the Permit also comply with the Standards. 

                    Without limiting the generality of the preceding, the Permit holder must ensure all persons providing services to children pursuant to the Permit hold and maintain a Working with Children Check.

                    Our sports parks

                    Six parks in the municipality have sports fields available for hire in summer (October to March) and winter (April to September). Use our interactive map or use our downloadable maps below, to view formal sports facilities in the City Of Melbourne. A separate map is provided for summer or winter. Find out which sports you can play in summer and winter and find the location of amenities such as BBQs, sports pavilions or public toilets.

                    Royal Park North

                    Summer season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Turf cricket
                    • Synthetic cricket.

                    Royal Park North summer map (PDF 1 MB)

                    Winter season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Australian Rules Football
                    • Soccer
                    • Lacrosse.

                    Royal Park North winter map (PDF 1 MB)

                    Royal Park East

                    ​Summer season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Turf cricket.

                    Royal Park East summer map (PDF 3 MB)

                    Winter season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Rugby/American Football
                    • Australian Rules Football.

                    Royal Park East winter map (PDF 3 MB)

                    Royal Park, Flemington Road Oval

                    Summer season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Turf cricket.

                    Flemington Road Oval summer map (PDF 613 KB)

                    Winter season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Soccer.

                    Flemington Road Oval winter map (PDF 611 KB)

                    Royal Park, Ross Straw Fields

                    Summer season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Synthetic cricket.

                    Ross Straw Fields summer map (PDF 244 KB)

                    Winter season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Baseball
                    • Soccer.
                    Ross Straw Fields winter map (PDF 318 KB)

                    Princes Park

                    Summer season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Turf cricket
                    • Synthetic cricket
                    • Touch football.

                    Princes Park summer map (PDF 244 KB)

                    Winter season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Australian Rules Football
                    • Soccer.
                    Princes Park winter map (PDF 318 KB)​

                    Newmarket Reserve

                    Summer season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Bookable lawn space.

                    Newmarket Reserve summer map (PDF 182 KB)

                    Winter season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Soccer.
                    Newmarket Reserve winter map (PDF 161 KB)​

                    Fawkner Park

                    Summer season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Turf cricket
                    • Synthetic cricket
                    • Softball
                    • Touch football.

                    Note: not all touch football and softball pitches are available throughout the season, due to the multi-sport nature of Fawkner Park.

                    Fawkner Park summer map (PDF 1.4 MB)

                    Winter season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Australian Rules Football
                    • Rugby
                    • Soccer
                    • Softball
                    • Touch football.
                    Fawkner Park winter map (PDF 1.4 MB)​

                    JJ Holland Park

                    Summer season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Turf cricket
                    • Synthetic cricket
                    • Multi-use synthetic.
                    JJ Holland Park summer map (PDF 198 KB)

                    Winter season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Australian Rules Football
                    • Soccer
                    • Multi-use synthetic.
                    JJ Holland Park winter map (PDF 430 KB)​

                    Ron Barassi Snr Park

                    Address: Docklands Drive, Docklands VIC 3008

                    We have been inundated with requests from established clubs to use this new sports park for training and competition. Being a new piece of infrastructure we are conscious of the need to avoid overuse of the space in its first 12 months, and thus we are carefully managing its frequency of use at this time.

                    Our Recreation team are working with the local Docklands community to provide physical activity opportunities and sports clinics and are working with local residents to set up a local sports club to maximise opportunities for the space going forward. As such City of Melbourne are currently not providing ongoing allocations to any existing sports club (both inside and outside the municipality).

                    We understand that there is limited green space available for clubs to expand in the inner city but there is even less green space available to those who live and work in Docklands and we need to ensure that they also have the opportunity to participate in regular outdoor physical activity.

                    You are however able to book the space for casual use using the casual permit request form.

                    ​If you require any additional information please don't hesitate to contact us at recreation@melbourne.vic.gov.au​.

                    Summer season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Bookable lawn space.

                    Ron Barassi Snr Park summer map (PDF 226 KB)

                    Winter season sports grounds for hire:

                    • Soccer

                    Ron Barassi Snr Park winter map (PDF 224 KB)

                    Managing our sports fields

                    Monitoring sports fields

                    Our sports fields are patrolled by the Park Ranger Service and are monitored by our open space contractors.

                    People using a sports fields without a permit will be asked to leave or move to an area within the park that is not a formal sports field. This does not include people engaging in ‘passive recreation’ activities that:

                    • are limited to a small number of participants
                    • do not involve organised clubs
                    • do not require a marked field or require infrastructure such as goal posts.

                    Activities that are not considered passive recreation require sports permits.

                    ​

                    Ongoing repairs and improvements

                    City of Melbourne undertakes significant work on sports fields to improve the turf, including over-seeding and fertilising. These renovations are completed in spring and autumn before the start of each summer and winter sports season. Sports grounds are only available after these works have been completed and grounds are in a satisfactory condition.

                    In order to manage the increasing demands for our sports fields and the ongoing impact of climate change we are:

                    • improving water management strategies including
                      • the use of underground storage tanks
                      • management of Royal Park wetlands
                      • stormwater catchments in parks
                    • managing use by tenant clubs
                    • installing synthetic surface sports fields.
                    These works are implemented alongside long-term strategies to improve sports grounds including:
                    • use of recycled water for irrigation where possible
                    • planting of drought-tolerant grass species.

                    For more information about increasing demand and use of synthetic surfaces see Sports ground FAQs.

                    Restrictions on sports fields

                    We have measures in place to maintain our sports fields and reduce the risks of injuries to participants and spectators. These include:

                    • ongoing renovation works on sports fields
                    • allocating sports fields is in accordance with the condition of the playing surface and their capacity to be used
                    • managing increasing demand on a limited number of lit sports fields within the municipality
                    • minimal use of sports fields on weekdays to allow grounds to recover from use and for maintenance to take place before and after weekends
                    • limiting bookings of natural turf sporting fields. Bookings are assessed on a case-by-case basis, and take into account the:
                      • condition of the field at time of enquiry
                      • likely impact on the sports field
                      • type of sport
                      • frequency of bookings.

                    While our parks can become more green following rains, the ground underneath the grass can be very delicate and at risk of deteriorating.

                    Where available, there are no restrictions on the use of artificial turf surfaces. There are also no restrictions on passive recreation activities such as kicking around a ball.

                    Risk assessments

                    We regularly audit each sports field to determine whether it is safe to use. Regular risk assessments of all sports fields include both playing and non-playing areas.

                    Sports fields are assessed in terms of ground condition and safety for both players and spectators. Assessment criteria include:

                    • cover, vigour, height and evenness of grassed areas
                    • evenness and firmness of playing area and wickets
                    • hardness of ground including cracks, holes, the condition of sprinklers
                    • damage to ground by animals or machinery
                    • positioning of signage, fences, light towers and flag poles
                    • the potential for injury by spectators or players.

                    If sports fields are found to have deteriorated significantly or otherwise fail to meet these criteria, we work with the seasonal sports clubs to identify solutions and alternatives for use.

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