Wentworth Park is the home ground of
Clarence Zebras FC, but can be used by other teams in other sports such as touch football, and Ultimate Frisbee tournaments. In the summer it is used as a
cricket ground
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the ...
. It is a picturesque facility located adjacent to
Howrah Beach and allows for views across the
River Derwent.
The facility is served by three main pitches, as well as a training ground and a touch pitch. In the early 1990s
Clarence United FC (then called Phoenix) upgraded the clubrooms, bar, and changing room facilities.
The headquarters for Tasmanian Touch Association and the offices and grounds of Southern Touch, where they hold summer and winter rosters on up to 10 touch fields.
The ground is not owned by the Clarence United FC, but is a Clarence City Council facility who lease the ground to the club on a long-term basis on the proviso that other sports be permitted to share the facilities with Clarence United FC. The site was originally coastal lagoons, and the city council had historically used the site as
landfill
A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...
rubbish tip. In 2003, the ground was featured in the media on ABC Stateline, when local residents suggested that
DDT
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...
s, and other
Organochloride
Organochlorine chemistry is concerned with the properties of organochlorine compounds, or organochlorides, organic compounds that contain one or more carbon–chlorine bonds. The chloroalkane class (alkanes with one or more hydrogens substituted ...
s had been used to control vermin and mosquitoes when the site was a rubbish dump, and that these chemicals were responsible for higher than usual rates of diseases such as
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...
in the area. An investigation was carried out, collecting soil, groundwater and soil gas data. An environmental assessment report was published in response, suggesting that the human health risk posed by latent chemicals was negligible.
[Final Report. Environmental Sit Assessment and Tier 1 Risk Assessment, Wentworth Park, Howrah Tasmania. Prepared for DPIWE. 24 September 2004 54203-001 (43294671)]
References
External links
Australian Touch AssociationTasmanian Touch AssociationSouthern TouchFootball Federation TasmaniaClarence United FC
{{Hobart landmarks
Soccer venues in Tasmania
City of Clarence