Hoglands Park Multi Use Games Area (MUGA)
A brand-new multi-use games area (MUGA) has opened in Hoglands Park. The versatile facility suitable for both informal recreation and organised sport, is free to use all year round for the local community to enjoy.
Fitted with a polymeric sports surface, basketball hoops and football goals, the MUGA provides many options to play sport in the city centre. It also has markings to play cage cricket, making it the first purpose-built cage cricket set up in the South.
Cage cricket is a ‘street to elite’ game and uniquely, the only form of competitive cricket played as an individual. Each player, numbered 1-6 takes turn playing every position (batting, bowling and fielding) and faces every other player in each position once. Scores are gained by hitting the ball at the different parts of the cage walls.
Cage Cricket made a financial contribution towards building the MUGA with the rest secured with funding from Section 106 developers’ contributions. Other local community groups including West Itchen Community Trust and Awaaz Radio have also been involved with the project.
Councillor Spiros Vassiliou, Cabinet Member for Communities, Culture & Heritage comments: “Having accessible facilities for the local community to use for exercise and recreation is incredibly important. The MUGA is a fantastic addition to Hoglands Park and a fitting way to promote the parks long history with cricket. The MUGAs versatility is a real asset to this popular city park and is a positive step to encouraging more community and grass root sport to the area, especially with the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022 coming to Southampton next year. I hope that the local community will enjoy this space for many years to come.”
Once called the ‘village green’, Hoglands Park is known for its cricket heritage. The area has been used as a cricket ground, almost without interruption since 1867, when the park hosted its inaugural cricket match between an All England XI and a Hampshire XVIII*.
Trevor McArdle, Co-Founder and Co-CEO at Cage Cricket said: “It’s really exciting to have the first purpose-built facility to play cricket in Hampshire, the home of Cage Cricket. I’m incredibly grateful for all of the support from the local community to get the project up and running, in order to have a free and accessible place to play recreational sport. Hoglands Park is a stone throw away from where Hampshire cricket was founded, and I hope this will be a catalyst to bring cricket back into the city.”
Colin Salmon, Chair of Cage Cricket Play adds: “I’m committed to looking for opportunities to engage communities in this new sport of Cage Cricket. We’ve been developing and fine tuning this all inclusive dynamic game and thrilled to share it with St Marys and the surrounding areas in Southampton. These purpose built Multi Use Games Areas are stellar and show that with will and a little imagination, the sport can also be added to new fabrications and adapted to existing infrastructure making it economically possible.”
Andrew Brown, Executive Director of the Veolia Environmental Trust said: “We were pleased to support Cage Cricket CIC with a grant of £24,000 from the Landfill Communities Fund to establish this MUGA in Southampton. It’s great to see residents given the opportunity to enjoy the social, health and well-being benefits of playing cricket all year round.”
Hoglands Park is part of the city’s five central parks awarded the prestigious Grade II* registration status on the Historic England Register of Parks and Gardens and have been awarded the Green Flag award. Southampton’s Central Parks provide 21 hectares (50 acres) of lawns, mature trees, gardens, historic monuments and recreation facilities in the City Centre. Included in this are eight listed historic monuments, all-weather tennis courts, Mini Golf, cricket pitches, a bandstand, skate park, café and a large children’s play area.
Other recent improvements to Hoglands Parks for the benefit of the local community include refurbishments to the nearby pavilion from the Safer Streets Fund, a new picnic area, and a wildflower meadow to encourage wildlife.
*https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1001323
