One of Melbourne’s busiest metropolitan areas, Frankston City Council is delivering major upgrades to one of its most used sporting grounds to deliver a safer, more reliable and fit-for-purpose playing surface. 

Ballam Park East Oval (pictured), an Australian rules football and cricket facility nestled within 30 hectares of playgrounds, cricket, football and soccer grounds, is being upgraded from September until April 2026 with new subsoil drainage, a new modern irrigation system, new drought tolerant turf across the ground, improved interface between the pavilion and oval as well as the realignment of the cricket pitch to a north-south orientation.

It is hoped the improvements to the playing surface will allow an increase in participation in sports activities including hosting finals.

Frankston City Council is a hive of sporting activity all-year round. Led by renowned female turf manager Sally Benwell - who was part of the elite turf crew at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2023 - her team of 14 maintains 68 ovals across the city, 86 hectares of sports turf, a synthetic oval, an athletics track and a public access golf course.

Some of these facilities include Frankston Park, the home of VFL club Frankston Dolphins, the state-of-the-art Jubilee Park which hosts Victorian Premier Cricket and Australian rules football, Centenary Park Golf Club – which Benwell is superintendent – and Centenary Park soccer facility just up the road which is the home to the Peninsula Strikers.

It’s a complex week-to-week operation which involves supporting over 100 local clubs, more than 30,000 club members and 74,000 school kids in using these facilities every year.

The old oval Ballam Park surface will be recycled instead of going to landfill. The approach was trialed with the Frankston Oval upgrade in 2024/25 and proved successful and supports Frankston City Council’s commitment to a circular economy. This $1.35M project is being developed by Council in partnership with the Australian Football League, Netball Victoria, AFL Victoria and the Victorian Government. 

Story and pictures by Nick Creely