Noosa Council – Sports Field Auditing

Last week ASTC delivered their findings to Noosa Council and the shires sporting clubs following their agronomic audit of their sports facilities. ASTC was engaged by Noosa Council to undertake a comprehensive independent sports field audit of the 22 natural turf sporting fields located within Noosa. Following the completion of the auditing and submission of reports, ASTC Director Matt Roche gave a presentation to Council and the clubs detailing the results and what turf management practices could be undertaken to help maintain and improve their assets; their fields. Matt Roche said “It was a great initiative provided by Noosa Council to the clubs in the region to facilitate the audit across all of their sporting fields. Given the large majority of the clubs are run by volunteers, it was evident that their turf management skills varied considerably, particularly when new volunteers came on board. However, their willingness to learn and to exchange ideas was very positive. The sports field audits also helps each club to identify their strengths and weaknesses across their fields and plan what turf management practices should be regarded as a higher priority than others in order to continue to provide a safe sports field for their users”. Feedback from Council and the clubs were very positive following the presentation by ASTC. The clubs also identified it was a great opportunity to meet with fellow club members and volunteers within the region that were responsible for looking after community sports fields. It is expected that such meetings to discuss turf maintenance issues and sports related topics would continue to be held within the Noosa region. A possible linkage is through the Queensland Sports Turf Association. Matt Roche said “it was fantastic to see everyone come together to learn and discuss their achievements or concerns. If one club is experiencing a certain problem, you could bet another club down the road would be in the same boat. Communication and collaboration were key in small regions and dealing with limited budgets”. For further information on sports field auditing and benchmarking please visit ASTC’s consultancy page.