Mud at Doug Dean Reserve an issue for Ballarat Highlanders rugby team

A month of heavy rain has left the pitch in poor condition as demonstrated at the weekend when the club hosted Maroondah in the Rugby Victoria Championship.

While new changeroom facilities worth $700,000 have been budgeted, in the interim the club and opposition teams are required to use nearby primary schools changerooms.

Highlanders club secretary Jen Couzens said the club was thankful for the work, but more was needed across the reserve.

"(We're) very grateful for the new changerooms as the old facilities were unfit for use but (they) are a band-aid fix to a larger issue," Ms Couzens said.

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Senior coach Clint Smith said the situation hindered the club's ability to grow into the women's and junior divisions of the game, following a successful charity rugby 7's competition earlier this year.

The playing field itself is also in a bad state with Smith saying 'poor irrigation' combined with historic rainfall numbers have led to a build up of mud and water on the field making it harder to train and play.

"We train on the outside of the field so we don't make it worse for games," Smith said.

He said he had previously played matches in New Zealand where more rain had fallen, yet conditions were far better.

The City of Ballarat said part of its 2022-23 draft budget was allocated to the reserve which the club shared with VRI Delacombe Cricket Club.

It said it has invested significantly at Doug Dean Reserve in recent years, including $700,000 for new female friendly changerooms as well as new cricket nets and lighting.

"Preparing sporting surfaces in winter is always challenging, made even more difficult with more than 100mm of rainfall in June, well above the historical average of 63mm," City of Ballarat director of community well-being Matthew Wilson said.

The council made no mention as to whether the reserve would be resurfaced in the near future.

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