Lines drawn in pitch battle

Alexa Brown 1605 - 1605 • Published 1 Apr 2009 09:00 0 Comments

HOCKEY players from Galashiels this week asked local councillors to use public money wisely whilst planning a new sports pitch in Tweedbank.

Nicola Mackay, Melissa Learmonth, Nicola Lane and Rachel Pateron from the Academy handed over a petition to the Executive Member for Culture, Sport and Community Learning, councillor Graham Garvie, asking officials for a pitch that will allow local hockey players to keep using the site.

The document carried more than 1090 signatures supporting the campaign.

A huge £280,000 has been alloted for the all-weather pitch, which will replace the aging sand-based turf that is currently used.

And, although some sports groups have suggested that it should be replaced with state-of-the-art 3G turf, hockey players in the area have hit out at the idea, as such a surface would be unsuitable for the sport.

Nicola Mackay, 17, told the Border Telegraph: 'We want to ask councillors to make sure they replace the pitch with one that we can use. There are already so many facilities in the Borders for rugby, but if we lose the astro at Tweedbank then there is nothing for hockey.

'You learn so many more skills on astro; it"s an astro game now. If we were to lose this pitch hockey players in the area would be at huge disadvantage.'

The current pitch, which first opened for use in 1993, has been blamed for several injuries in recent months, and is in dire need of a replacement.

Officials hope that a decision on the new facility will be taken in the next few weeks.

Councillor Garvie said: 'There are no plans at the moment. We have got an allocation of £280,000 for the replacement of the pitch at Tweedbank, and we are now examining what would be the best way to use the money so that as many people and athletes as possible can benefit from the facility.

'No decision has been made. We want sport in the area to move forward, and we are now researching how best this can be done.'

abrown@bordertelegraph.com

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This article appeared in Border Telegraph 01 Apr 09

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