Soccer choppers off Cats training

Andrew Mathieson
A PRESEASON soccer trial threatens to keep Geelong Football Club off its home ground for another week.
Heavy rain had already put Skilled Stadium out of bounds, with the Cats forced to transfer training sessions to Waurn Ponds’ baseball centre and nearby St Mary’s Football Club.
A City Hall spokesperson said clearance for training would only be given after an inspection found the ground to be in “suitable” condition.
The City employed at helicopter on Wednesday to hover above the soggy surface to accelerate the drying process after 70mm of rain in the past week.
“The aim was to dry the ground enough that we could get our drainage machinery onto the surface without damaging the turf,” council’s sport and recreation portfolioholder John Mitchell said.
ALeague club Melbourne Victory is scheduled to play one of three preseason games in Geelong on July 22.
Geelong hosts its next AFL game at Skilled Stadium against Richmond on August 4.
Cr Mitchell said the $2100 cost to hire the helicopter was more costeffective than having groundkeepers manually aerate the soil.
“The surface simply became too waterlogged to drain adequately between uses.”
Cr Mitchell said Skilled Stadium was the most frequentlyused AFL ground in Victoria, pencilled in for 63 matches and 290 training sessions between Geelong’s AFL, VFL and under18 teams.