Hi everyone,

Two years ago, our community started a campaign to secure better sporting facilities at Callan Park.

Today, we're excited to share a major milestone.

The NSW Heritage Council has formally approved both proposed all-weather sporting fields - one at Waterfront Drive and one at Balmain Road.

This is a genuinely significant milestone. The Heritage Council exists to protect Callan Park's heritage significance, so its approval confirms these fields can be built while respecting everything that makes this place special. That wasn't a given. It matters.

Now there is one final hurdle.

On Monday 9 June, the Inner West Local Planning Panel will make the definitive determination on the Development Applications. This is the decision that makes it real.

As rain falls across Sydney this week, many grass sporting fields have been closed.

In 2024 alone, more than one-third of Small Sided Football games in our area were washed out and never replayed. Games cancelled. Sessions lost. Children, teenagers and adults missing out — not because of lack of interest, but because grass simply can't keep up with the demand we place on it.

These fields are about more than football. They're about girls and women having facilities that match their rapidly growing participation. They're about children with disabilities having reliable, accessible surfaces to play on.

They're about infrastructure that serves our community for decades, not just seasons.

The community response has already been extraordinary. Inner West Mayor Darcy Byrne recently posted: "The petition for 2 new all weather sporting fields in Callan Park just reached 1500 signatories. The most people who have ever supported a DA in Council's history."

That support brought us Heritage Council approval. It can carry us across the line on June 9.

We're asking for one final thing before that date: share the petition with two people who haven't signed yet.

👉 https://www.change.org/callanpark

A neighbour, a teammate, a parent, a friend.

Anyone who has watched a game get cancelled in the rain and wondered why we don't have better solutions.

If every current supporter does that, we go to June 9 with an unmistakable show of community backing.

Thank you for standing with us throughout this campaign.

Balmain & District Football Club and Leichhardt Saints Football Club — working together for the benefit of community sport.