Children may soon be banned from using cricket balls in public parks and at cricket grounds in one Australian city due to safety concerns that “someone will die”.
Port Adelaide Enfield Council is considering the ban on all park users other than actual cricketers out of fear that passers-by might be injured and suggests that casual players should use tennis balls, Portside Messenger reports.
One councillor has even come out saying that the risk is so extreme that “someone will die”.
Councillor Mark Basham, the man who proposed the idea, has described his own plan as being a “nanny state” policy but said they were obliged to advise people of the dangers.
“… the culture I grew up in was you didn’t use a hard ball around people that weren’t expecting it,” he said.
“If you are an innocent passer-by who has every right to use that facility and a stray ball whacks you on the back of the skull, people sue the council.”
However, the plan has been slammed by former cricketer KG Cunningham who claims people watching games played by professionals at local stadiums were at greater risk of being injured.
“We’re just over-protective,” he said.
“What’s wrong with young people out there using a hard ball? Just put up signs saying ‘hard ball in use, beware’.”
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