COUNTRY sport and recreational facilities have been delivered a blow with the announcement the State government will slash the amount of money available for grants.
As part of the mid-year budget review, the government plans to cut its Community Recreational and Sport Facilities Program by $500,000 in 2014-15 and by $3.5m in 2015-16, with cuts to be ongoing.
The program was increased to $6.5m in 2010-11, which, according to the South Australian Office of Recreation & Sport, has provided leverage for $77.8m for 209 different projects since, and stimulated an estimated $233.4m in economic benefit to SA.
But now the government wants to cut back the grants program as part of savings being made across all its departments.
River Murray Football League president Mick O'Hara, Meningie, says it has come at a bad time because a lot of clubs are battling with falling numbers due to population changes.
"My club here at Meningie for example, they've lost heaps of dairies out Narrung way and there's just a huge drop in population, so it does affect clubs," he said.
"Any grants that are available to sporting clubs are great."
Sports SA chief executive officer Jan Sutherland says there are plenty of examples of country clubs that have benefited from facilities funding in the past.
"Facilities are requiring more and more maintenance up to a certain standard everywhere," she said.
"And back in the drought, the deterioration of facilities at the time required a lot of regeneration – the country in particular.
"There will not be the opportunity to do some of those really fundamental things in the future.
"But I believe State Recreation & Sport Minister Leon Bignell in particular is very supportive of sport and recreation. It's just a matter of working out how it fits into the priorities of the government."
But Family First MLC Robert Brokenshire says the government is not listening or prioritising – proven by the fact it ignores its own departmental advice on the matter.
Under the Freedom of Information Act, Mr Brokenshire obtained a memo sent in December from ORS executive director Paul Anderson to then Recreation & Sport Minister Tom Kenyon that outlined programs the department would cut as a result of funding cuts being proposed at varying amounts.
He warned there would be "community aggravation" if the CRSFP fund's $2.5m Category 4 grant was removed, which funded a second hockey pitch at the State Hockey Centre at Gepps Cross.
Mr Anderson said most facilities were built before 1980 and "coming to the end of their useful life", and more than 1 million South Australians regularly participated in sport and active recreation.
The CRSFP annual budget was increased by $5m in 2010 because at the time it was offering just $1.494m – the lowest per capita of any other state.
Since then, it had contributed $20.2m altogether to 209 different projects, but for every dollar invested other parties contributed $2.8, taking the total cost of the 209 projects to $77.8m.
This money contributed to about $233.4m in economic benefit to SA and buoyed the construction and trade industry.
*Full report in Stock Journal, April 4 issue, 2013.
