Call for investigation into cricket pitches on ovals after football tragedy

A Melbourne suburban football club is demanding an investigation into how cricket pitches are covered on multi-use community sporting ovals. The call follows a tragic incident where a player suffered critical head injuries. Epping Football Netball Club player Nathan Fitzgerald, 27, is receiving end-of-life care after reportedly hitting his head on a hard cricket pitch during a game.

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There's heartbreak, but there's shock and confusion, i just doesn't feel real.

Fitzgerald is believed to have sustained three head knocks during a tackle. The club president, Luke De Vincentis, stated that Fitzgerald clashed heads with a teammate, then was hit by a knee or boot, before hitting his head on the hard surface in the oval's center. "There's heartbreak, but there's shock and confusion, it just doesn't feel real," De Vincentis told 774 ABC Melbourne.

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Unfortunately, because we're just local amateur sports, we have to be able to use these facilities for multiple purposes, but the risk does come that there is quite a hard strip of surface in the middle of the ground where there's a high-velocity, high-contact sport played on.

Most community ovals are managed by local councils, and hard cricket pitches are typically covered with synthetic grass and sand during the off-season. While the pitch at Lalor Reserve was covered on Saturday, De Vincentis believes the tragedy necessitates a review of how pitches are treated at all multi-use ovals. "Unfortunately, because we're just local amateur sports, we have to be able to use these facilities for multiple purposes, but the risk does come that there is quite a hard strip of surface in the middle of the ground where there's a high-velocity, high-contact sport played on," he said.

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I do hope this is explored and potentially the way that cricket pitches are covered moving forward is something that can absolutely be looked at because it is a significant risk and I think the weekend has proved what a dire outcome can be from that.

De Vincentis expressed hope that the covering methods for cricket pitches would be examined, noting the "dire outcome" from the weekend's events. The club's thoughts are with Fitzgerald's family, whom he described as having lost a son and brother. "They would have wished him all the best on Saturday morning to go out and, you know, kick a goal and get a win not realising that was the last time they were going to speak to him. It's just truly, truly heartbreaking."

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We've lost a teammate and much-loved person from the club but more importantly the Fitzgerald family have lost a son and a brother.