Council backflips on Godfrey St Oval grass

THOMSON says the quality of cricket at Godfrey St Oval has improved “dramatically” after Geelong council agreed to cut the outfield shorter.

Tigers president Stephen Crane lauded the swift action of senior City of Greater Geelong official Paul Cotter — who ensured the lush turf was cut to a respectable level, delivering an instant improvement to the quality of cricket.

“They cut twice last week, and they cut it lower as well, and our twos made (almost) 280,” Crane said.

“For us, it was really about speaking to the right people. We spoke to a few people and they said ‘We can’t do anything’.

“But after the article ran in the paper (GA 7/11) I got a phone call from Paul and he hadn’t heard about it. It hadn’t reached that level.

“But now the job is done, so I called to thank him for what he’s done.”

The issue came to a head after Thomson legend Gary Anderton and captain-coach Sam Stoneley voiced their disapproval of the length of the grass, claiming it was ruining the quality of cricket at the venue.

In a statement to the paper at the time, City Hall said the treatment of rye grass was standardised across Geelong, claiming the grass “needs to be cut longer to survive warmer conditions”. But the council then backflipped, cutting the grass prior to the weekend.

“I would say it (grass) was roughly a third (shorter) and it was the highest score we’ve had there all season,” Crane said.

“We have increased scoring capacity by at least 50 per cent. So they (council) have done a really good job. They cop a lot of flak, but on this occasion, they’ve done OK.”

Crane admitted he was frustrated by the whole process, with the club unable to convince the council to cut the grass earlier.

“It’s the same old problems. You’re dealing with administrators, but once we got through to the right bloke, it was done within a couple of days,” Crane said.

“And that’s the frustrating thing. We weren’t happy, and we had complaints from other sides, but we were really happy on Saturday. And if they continue to cut it like that, we’ll continue to be happy.”