Education Minister Jo Palmer says cricket will still be played on Tasmanian public school pitches, after a directive closing concrete wickets for recreational use prompted reports of a ban.
Responding on Facebook on Wednesday night to reports that cricket had been banned on public school pitches, Palmer said “that isn’t quite right”.
She said cricket would be played on school pitches by students, community groups and cricket clubs.
“After a tragic death in Victoria recently, we’re reviewing our concrete pitches to ensure they have the right level of protection when they’re not being used for cricket,” she said.
“I think we can all agree that the last thing we want is for one of our students to fall over playing football during lunch, hit their heads and not be as protected as possible.”
The minister said the department had clarified its advice to principals.
It is understood the Department of Education, Children and Young People issued the directive on Monday.
“As a precautionary measure, schools are directed to make all concrete cricket pitches out of bounds for recreational use effective immediately, unless advised otherwise,” the directive said.
It cited “emerging evidence relating to pitch impact safety”.
The directive described the closure as an interim measure while the department worked to understand the extent of the issue across school sites and considered any longer-term management or remediation.
Schools were told to put reasonable measures in place to prevent recreational access, including notifying community users.
The directive followed an incident in Victoria in July, when a 27-year-old man died while playing football at a ground with a hard wicket.
