NEW sports flood lighting at the Loxton Oval will see local sporting clubs given better visibility and more opportunities next season.
The District Council of Loxton Waikerie received $380,000 from the State Government as part of the grassroots football, cricket and netball facility program to install sports flood lighting to the minimum of 200 lux at the Bookpurnong Terrace oval.
District Council of Loxton Waikerie CEO David Beaton said the new lights would greatly benefit local sporting clubs across the board with visibility and scheduling events.
“I think the increased lighting makes training better and makes the ability to take into account climate change for scheduling events,” he said.
“It’s good support from the State Government that we’ve been able to get the funding to be able to look after sport within the region, and get to upgrade our facilities.
“It allows sports to work together to plan when they’re going to have their events, (and) it extends the amount of daylight when things can be done.”
The current lighting system at the oval runs at 10 lux, which, when it comes to twilight at this time of the year, can cause safety issues, and limit trainings and events.
President of the Loxton Football Club Les Lange said the upgrades would be beneficial not just for the players, but potentially for spectators to see where the ball is if night games are played at
the oval.
“At the moment, the lights are running at what they call 10 lux and it’s going to be 200, so the visibility for the players (and spectators) will be next to none – it will be unbelievable,” he said.
“Unfortunately, in our day we’ve got to be careful of lawsuits against you for injury, and if it’s caused by the lack of lighting, it could have severe ramifications for the Loxton Waikerie council as well.
“I think for the safety of people, it’s very important to have proper lighting.”
Mr Lange said additionally, the upgrades opened up a number of opportunities and events which would not only benefit Loxton, but the whole Riverland region.
“This could attract night cricket, and what I mean by (that), it could attract the SA Redbacks up here or even an Australian team to play here at night when they go to the country areas,” he said.
“Also, night football could attract the Crows or the Power to play trial games up here at night or one of their pre-season AFL games because they do go to country areas as well to play those type of games.
“If they can see the facilities are next to none, they are going to be encouraged to come up here.
“So you could imagine the revenue this could bring to the Riverland in attracting these sorts of events.”
Mr Beaton said the council was looking to have the design finalised and something out to tender within the next couple of months.