Loud appeals as cricketers bid to net a tennis court! (From South Wales Guardian)

Loud appeals as cricketers bid to net a tennis court!

6:20am Wednesday 24th October 2012 in News

IT’S just not cricket!

That’s the view of opponents to a plan by Ammanford Cricket Club to take over one of Ammanford Park’s four tennis courts.

The cricketers - who won the South Wales Premier League title for the first time last summer – want to replace the court with nets, claiming there is limited demand for tennis.

But the move is being resisted by members of Ammanford Miners’ Welfare, which donated the courts to the park back in 1947.

“You don’t go destroying a perfectly good tennis court when you have other areas of the park in need of an upgrade,” secretary Anthony Jones told the Guardian.

However, county councillor Deian Harries says one sporting facility would simply be replaced by another. “Ammanford has the best cricket club in Wales - and I’ve never seen people queuing up here to play tennis,” he added.

Cricket club secretary Jeff Roach said they urgently needed practice facilities. “We’re the only club in the county who don’t have nets,” he added.

“We’ve had a good look around the park and we don’t want to spoil any green areas or put nets too close to houses.

“The numbers who use the tennis courts are sparse. Our junior teams desperately need practice facilities because they are missing out on their development.

“We have 60 to 70 young kids who would really benefit from a two-lane practice pitch.”

And Cllr Harries believes the loss of a single tennis court would be negligible. “There are courts at the secondary school and in Betws, and a tennis club up in Llandybie,” he said.

But town councillor Chris Jones insisted the courts were “heaving” during the summer holidays.

“Surely the last thing we should be doing is removing any of the town’s sports facilities?” he suggested.

Speaking on behalf of the Welfare,MrJones said: “While we acknowledge the cricket club’s success we don’t think it appropriate that a functioning tennis court is taken over by another discipline when there are other areas of the park which are more suitable.”