Forum: Already hard to book a field for football, don’t talk about cricket

While I note Mr Nilkanth Patil’s call for inclusivity (ActiveSG can do more for cricket enthusiasts, May 29), his proposal is impractical and ignores pressing ground realities that affect far more people.

The assertion that tennis-ball cricket poses “minimal risk” is debatable. Repeated bowling and running between wickets cause turf compaction and divots on school fields. These fields are maintained for physical education and school sports, and not as multi-purpose recreational grounds.

Once tennis-ball cricket is permitted, inadequate enforcement and a group bringing a hard ball can lead to the field being damaged for weeks.

Mr Patil’s claim that school fields are “underutilised on weekends” is also not true as anyone who has tried to book a school field for football knows the frustration – every weekend slot is snapped up despite numerous ballots sent. Worse, many of the bookings are not from genuine recreational players but from syndicates that manage to get these pitches and then resell the slots at inflated prices.

The same few people sell slots for multiple football pitches from various schools every week at online football forums. This illegal secondary market has existed despite the balloting system.

Singapore already has a chronic shortage of football pitches relative to demand. Football is the nation’s most played community sport, with hundreds of recreational leagues and casual groups. Adding cricket to the mix would only worsen the scarcity.

Inclusive sport is a worthy goal, but not at the expense of eroding access for the majority. Before adding new sports to the same strained infrastructure, ActiveSG should first fix the syndicate pitch slot-selling problem and expand football capacity. Only then can we discuss accommodating other grass-based sports.

Jag Kuo Soon Yong