MAYORAL MINUTE NO. 16/2014
SYDNEY HILLS FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION 11 NOVEMBER 2014
Councillors,
For decades, tens of thousands of Hills residents and parents have spent their winter weekends driving around Sydney’s northern and western suburbs to play football (soccer).
Despite having some very big clubs in our Shire and more than enough teams and members to have a local competition, Hills clubs have historically been split between two associations;
Granville and Districts Soccer Football Association and Gladesville Hornsby Football Association. At the same time, participation in football in the hills continues to boom while many Clubs are being forced to turn down players because there simply aren’t enough grounds to accommodate everyone.
Council is doing its part. We have plans in place for more sporting fields in new release areas in Kellyville, Box Hill and Kenthurst. However, you can almost guarantee that no matter how many sporting fields we provide, there will never be enough to accommodate the growing demand for participation sport. That being said, there are measures that can be taken to alleviate this issue.
There have been numerous attempts to establish a local Hills Football Association. Thankfully, there now seems to be a real drive to make it happen.
Last week I attended a meeting for the proposed Sydney Hills Football Association. Local clubs have been invited to take part in a new competition which would encompass the boundaries of The Hills Shire Council LGA.
As we are geographically large, with a growing population that is set to boom over the next 25 years, I believe the time has come for Hills football clubs to stand on their own two feet and break away from Granville and Gladesville Hornsby and establish their own league.
We have enough players and clubs to make this happen and our ever growing population base is already bigger than our neighbours at Hornsby and Parramatta. Hills clubs, playing against other Hills clubs will open up our grounds to greater local participation.
Whilst Council won't be the driver of the proposed Sydney Hills Football Association, we will however be a supporter of any measure that will result in more of our residents and children playing football on the weekends. We will work with a local association and be able to manage ground allocations more effectively.
I want to congratulate Ryan Williams for helping to drive the establishment of the Sydney Hills Football Association and I hope that Hills clubs can make the right decision by acting in the best interests of the current and future local football community.
Accordingly I move that:
1. Council supports the establishment of the Sydney Hills Football Association
Councillor Andrew Jefferies MAYOR
