Following some bad weather and heavy foot trafic, Central Highlands Football League grounds will enjoy a weekend off games

Following some heavy rain and foot traffic in recent weeks, some grounds around the league have done it tough, unable to fully recover with training sessions and games still needing to go ahead.

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Some clubs have moved one training session a week off the ground and used the opportunity to train at an inside venue or do another form of fitness as a group to give the grounds a reprieve.

The lockdown can only benefit the surfaces, with a weekend off games and at least one training session missed, depending on if the lockdown is extended or ends when scheduled.

Beaufort, Buninyong, Hepburn, Bungaree, Dunnstown, Gordon, Newlyn and Springbank are clubs that will benefit more than most with three weekends off their grounds.

The latter five more so than the other three have seen their respective surfaces affected in recent weeks with heavy rain and foot traffic, partially unlucky that their home games fell on poor weather weeks, while other weekends have welcomed good weather.

With a weekend off them in round 12 (played away from home), no games this weekend and all eight scheduled for away fixtures in round 14, the grounds should hold up strongly to finish the season.

Springbank president Paddy O'Neil told The Courier it was a positive in a weekend full of negatives.

"Ours actually recovered alright, until the rain the last couple of days it was pretty good," he said.

"But if we played on it (Saturday) it would've chopped up again for sure.

"That's the only positive (to not playing)."

Gordon president Peter Clifford echoed O'Neil's comments.

"The ground was really good (Thursday) night," he said.

"If it was raining (Saturday) when you're playing, it wouldn't do it any good at all.

"The week off will certainly help it in that regard."

Moorabool Shire Council said it will continue to work on the grounds to keep them in good shape.

"Our parks and gardens crew will continue with normal maintenance schedule to keep our reserves and sports grounds in good condition," it said.

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