One of Canberra's premier soccer venues will remain empty for at least the winter season after McKellar Park was left off the Capital Football draw for a rejigged competition.
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The venue has hosted A-League pre-season matches, W-League contests and Canberra's top grand finals for several years but has been shut amid the coronavirus shutdown and forced Belconnen United's premier league teams to shift to Hawker.
It comes almost exactly 12 months after details of a light-complaint report at the same venue were published under the Freedom of Information laws. It led to Belconnen United being unable to train at their home venue until the light pollution was fixed.
The Belconnen Soccer Club licenced premises has been shut due to coronavirus restrictions. The club and the soccer venue are adjacent to each other and share a car park.
It's not clear if the decision to close the soccer venue will be changed to allow for training sessions and games to be played at some stage this season.
Capital Football finalised its men's and women's premier league draws on Friday, with the competitions to start on July 18 after the ACT moves to the next phase of the COVID-19 recovery plan.
Chief executive Phil Brown said the governing body would work with the Belconnen Soccer Club and Belconnen United in the hope of a return to action this year.
"McKellar Park is owned and operated by Belconnen Soccer Club, whose business, like many across the community, has been impacted by restrictions applied to limit the spread of the COVID-19," Brown said.
"We will work with and support BSC and Belconnen United, who call McKellar Park their home, as restrictions ease and hope to see football at the stadium again soon."
Some Capital Football teams have already started playing trial matches in anticipation of the season beginning in two weeks.
The Belconnen United women's team will be aiming for a 10th consecutive NPLW title when they start their season against the Monaro Panthers at Hawker.
Canberra Olympic and Belconnen United will launch the men's first-grade competition on the same afternoon, while defending champions Gungahlin United will host Woden-Weston FC on July 19.
Capital Football will announce the draws for senior leagues, junior competitions and under-10s and under-11s on July 10.
The governing body received clearance from the government to extend their winter season to September 27 for those competitions, giving them an extra two weeks of action.
Lucie Bertoldo
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
Lucie Bertoldo is a sports reporter for the Canberra Times.
