Wed 14 February 2007 - The Village Green
We don’t have the Village Green anymore, but many Australian suburbs do have this: a local cricket oval.
In summer the local cricket club will be in residence. About every fortnight there’ll be a game on. I’m not skilled enough to tell who are the locals and who are the visitors, but they frequently show just as much enthusiasm as their well-paid counterparts playing international matches. (”Howzaaaaaaaat?!”)
At some point in the autumn they’ll vacate to let the footy club move in — there might be some overlap in the players. (They seem to have left the football goals in place over summer here.)
I assume in rugby-playing states they have a more equal balance of rugby pitches and cricket ovals, though even here in AFL-loving Victoria, there’s a few rectangular pitches for rugby and soccer around.
February 14th, 2007 at 8:43am
Daniel
No! Melbourne still has the Village Green, on the corner of Springvale and Ferntree Gully Roads, Mulgrave. See
http://www.thevillagegreen.com.au
February 14th, 2007 at 8:59am
In NSW a lot of particular suburban cricket grounds, (that is below grade level) are on soccer and rugby union/league grounds. They have the more durable astro turf pitches (concrete pitches covered in artificial grass - these are then covered over with soil for the winter season). This often makes the grounds a lot smaller than they ideally should be, meaning that often games are played on fields that resemble postage stamps in proportion.
February 18th, 2007 at 1:15pm
My local oval was vacated by the local footy club a few years ago, and is now inhabited in summer by the cricketers, and a junior soccer club for the rest of the year. They actually manage to create two soccer pitches in the winter. One full size one, and a smaller one for the little kids. The cricket pitch is astro turf nd covered over in the winter.