Sport & recreation  |  20 Sep 2021

For 10 years the astro-turf courts at Burwood Tennis Club were seeping mud and liquefaction, at times making them too dangerous to play on.

The club borders the red-zone in the east of the city and the 2011 earthquakes caused substantial damage to its seven courts.

Due to insurance issues the four hard courts were remediated but not the damaged astro-turf courts - leaving club volunteers to scrape mud and liquefaction from the surface in winter.

“We play tennis year-round and in winter it was just lethal. Someone actually threatened legal action after they slipped and hurt their back,” club chairperson Colin Finnie says.

A big fundraising push saw the club raise $86,000 and with a final $10,000 grant from the Coastal-Burwood Community Board Discretionary Response Fund, they were finally able to strip and resurface all three courts in May this year.

“That grant from the Board is what got us over the line, and the new courts are looking absolutely fantastic,” Mr Finnie says.

“The east side of town has taken a pounding since the earthquakes. There’s been lots of population drift and our traditional catchment area of Burwood, Dallington and Avondale has really taken a hit.

“But we’ve stabilised the club financially, resurfaced the courts, put up a new practice wall which is available for public use and upgraded our entranceway. We want the club to be about more than just tennis, we want it to be a community hub,” Mr Finnie says.

 The Coastal-Burwood Community Board supported 24 groups in the latest round of Discretionary Response Funding. The fund supports requests that fall outside other Council funding criteria or closing dates or in emergency situations.