The round ball will not be sighted at the Oval this season, and other grounds on which football has been played for years will no longer host games.
Southern Football chief executive Dougal McGowan said he had warned the council the 25% increase in ground fees was too much, but he was ignored.
The impact was now coming home to roost.
Mr McGowan said the rise was having an impact across the sporting landscape.
He said 48% of fees, or $107,000, he gets from Dunedin clubs will go straight to the council to pay for ground fees.
‘‘Ours are the highest in the country. In Auckland, they pay nothing. In Christchurch, they pay nothing,’’ he said.
‘‘So we're going to have fewer fields, which will lead to more impact on the fields we use and more maintenance costs for them.’’
He said higher costs to repair overused fields may negate any extra income gained by the council.
He said over the past season and the upcoming season he would have closed 10 to 15 grounds, where football would no longer be played.
‘‘So, I've got three community grounds [at St Leonards, Portobello and Waitati] that I get about $1100 in fees in from them, but it costs over two grand to have their fields.
‘‘So I've had to can their fields. I worry about the future of these clubs.
‘‘Those grounds had been used for years.
They have been the centre of their community. People walk down and watch them play, but no more. We can’t afford to play there.’’
It was simply not fair clubs had to pay ground fees, while schools did not have to despite many schools using council grounds.
He had written to all the Dunedin city councillors, including those elected last year, about the issue and was disappointed no-one had replied.
Sports now had to pay 5% of maintenance compared to the previous 4% — a 25% rise, Mr McGowan said.
The hard decision had been made to move 24 junior football fields and two senior football fields from the Oval to Logan Park.
The increased fees were part of the reason of moving, but it was also impacted by road works later in the year, which would affect parking. Homeless people living by the Oval was another reason for moving away, Mr McGowan said.
He said the Oval had a superb surface and it was a shame no football was being played at the venue now.
Otago Cricket Association community cricket manager Andrew Petrie also confirmed the organisation had reduced the number of games at the Oval because of the homeless people this season.
He said homeless people using the toilets and changing rooms was not the correct environment for young cricketers.
He said overall it had been a juggling act to get games on limited grounds across the city to cut costs and this was especially hard when there were only about a dozen grass pitches. Once weather intervened, it was difficult to find enough grass pitches.
Health and safety also impacted the number of games which could be played on some grounds such as Tonga Park.
The increased cost had been passed on to clubs and there would be a meeting with them at the end of the season.
Otago Rugby Football Union chief executive Richard Kinley said the union paid 5% of the total maintenance costs for each field used in ground fees.
Costs had increased, but rugby had imposed gradual increases over the years.
Rugby and football may be hard to compare as football had the artificial turf and football may require more space for their small-sided game approach across their younger age grades, he said.
The Dunedin City Council was approached for comment, but did not reply yesterday.
