What happens when a White Eagle meets a cockatoo?
If that's the start of a joke, it's not a funny one for Canberra White Eagles.
Canberra sports teams have been thrown more than a few curveballs in recent months as they confront rodent infestations, ants, and destructive e-bikes, and now one club is facing another nightmare: cockatoos.
Canberra White Eagles are keeping their fingers crossed that the club can soon return to its home ground at Boomanulla Oval, after patchy grass with deep divots left the pitch unsafe and unplayable for weeks.
"Boomanulla is not significantly overused like some other fields where there's multiple codes on them. Our issue is more with the way it's maintained because there's a pest problem there," White Eagles president Mark Stoya told The Canberra Times.
"It's cockatoos. For the last eight to 10 weeks literally hundreds of them descend down from the gum trees that surround the oval and they attack the roots of the grass.
"The cockatoos rip out grass from the roots, and they dig very deep, so you could be excused for thinking it was rabbits.
"They're in these holes and you can only see half the bird, so it's not small divots, it's significant destruction.
"There's hundreds of them and when you scare them off they come straight back."
The club's last home National Premier League first grade and under-23s matches in round 16 at Boomanulla were moved to Hawker's synthetic pitch due to rain impacting ACT sportsgrounds. And the home fixture before that in round 13 was moved to Greenway Oval after Boomanulla was deemed unfit for play by referees.
Greenway became the fifth different sportsground that White Eagles played home matches at this NPL season as a bigger struggle to find a permanent home continues.
The hurdles led the club to launch a community petition aiming to be presented to the Legislative Assembly.
The petition hopes to demonstrate public support for White Eagles to be granted use of an dryland ACT sportsground that the club can primarily use as their home, as well as maintain and invest in with major upgrades.
"Where our proposal differs is we're not saying for the government to turn that field back on and make it playable. We're saying let us use it as our home ground and we'll take on the cost and the responsibility for maintaining it," Stoya said.
"It would not cost the government anything and we'd make that investment, but in return we need some kind of assurance that the ground won't be reappropriated in two years' time after we've upgraded the irrigation and put in lights.
"What's the worst that happens if we don't maintain it to standard? It just goes back to being a drylands oval and not used."
The club had originally intended to play its matches at Woden Enclosed this season.
But White Eagles were instead offered Boomanulla by ACT Sportsgrounds due to Phillip Enclosed Oval still being redeveloped. It was a domino effect, which meant Woden was to be used for rugby and sharing the field with soccer wasn't possible.
At the start of the season Boomanulla looked in good condition, however, it doesn't have lights approved for NPL, resulting in some night matches hosted by White Eagles needing to be played at other venues.
The constant relocations have put a huge strain on players, club staff and volunteers, and led to lost canteen revenue and disruptions to the team's weekly preparation for matches.
Stoya said now the cockatoos plaguing Boomanulla present more uncertainty and stress about future home matches.
"My fear is we'll once again prepare everything for a home game and then we'll be told at the last moment that we can't go ahead because of the pitch," Stoya said.
For now White Eagles have to make do with Boomanulla and try to keep it in the best possible condition for play, at least until the club can find a more suitable and permanent home ground.
Stoya said the club has considered putting up white plastic bags around the ground which can scare cockatoos, or put up scarecrows or other deterrents.
ACT Sportsgrounds has attempted to fix the turf damage by filling in holes in the last week, however White Eagles has been warned the problem may keep occurring because Boomanulla Oval is enclosed and so wildlife are not disturbed by dog-walkers or other public use.
"It's been a baptism of fire being promoted back to the NPL this season, and we're learning as we go, but we don't need these sort of things to spring up along the way," the president said.
"We've just been filling in holes with sand as best we can, but there is still a risk of injury to players on a soft or uneven surface."
Similar incidents of poor field conditions causing cancelled NPL matches occurred in Kambah.
For the past two years White Eagles has been lobbying ACT Sportsgrounds, government and members of the Legislative Assembly to get access to a venue they would be able to maintain themselves, and call their permanent home.
Canberra soccer clubs have been calling for more unused ovals dormant since the early to mid-2000s to be brought back online as the sports community deals with growing demand for grounds and facilities.
In August last year, the government acknowledged possibly half of 31 identified drylands ovals could be in line for reactivation, and parts of Melba and Holt Oval were eventually brought back online this year.
Five more grounds - Lyneham, Weston, Spence, Narrabundah, and Torrens Oval - were last month announced to undergo community consultation to get back online, too.
White Eagles are eyeing Farrer as the ideal sportsground for their new home as it is also located close to a church hall and kitchen already used by members of the club's Serbian community for events.
The club would be willing to take on the maintenance costs of the ground and is even open to develop infrastructure like changerooms and toilets should they be given priority use when it is brought back online.
