History provides legitimacy, and it may yet become a useful weapon as politicians and developers seem to be forming an unholy alliance to deny open space to service the explosion of high-rise inner-city apartments. Why Football Federation Australia and Sydney FC have shown such scant enthusiasm to join the fight on the game's behalf remains a mystery. And a disappointment.

First, though, the history lesson. Pyrmont Rangers were the dominant force in the embryonic years of organised football in NSW, claiming eight championships between the formation of the Sydney competition in 1888 and World War I. When the competition was expanded to a state league (1928) – incorporating Wollongong and Newcastle – Pyrmont were excluded, and the famous royal blue jerseys disappeared overnight.

Part of the reason used then to justify Pyrmont's extinction was a population drift to the suburbs. Ironically it is the drift back in the opposite direction (Pyrmont is now the most densely populated postcode in Australia and is expected to grow by 12,000 people by 2034) which has led to the demand for a club to be re-formed. The new residents want a football club, but have been repeatedly fobbed off by the City of Sydney, which insists there is nowhere for them to play.

However the Canterbury association – whose area includes Pyrmont and Ultimo – is listening. Plans to include the new club in its competitions in 2017 are well advanced. It may be the new club will be rebadged Pyrmont Dragons in recognition of the local Chinese community which wants to provide the support, but we'll see.

Whatever the case, what matters is finding a home ground, which is where the Spaces to Play campaign comes in. This is a community organisation set up to lobby for sporting fields being included in the planned 85-acre "Bays Precinct" development, which incorporates the old Rozelle railyards and White Bay terminal and straddles the municipal boundaries of Leichhardt and the City of Sydney.

Both councils are bearing the brunt of a huge surge in medium-density residential development – there are 16,000 new dwellings and potentially 32,000 new residents expected for the Bays Precinct project alone. Yet Urban Growth NSW – the responsible authority led by former NSW Opposition Leader John Brogden and with a board top-heavy with property experience – has steadfastly refused to commit to any new sporting fields being built.

Thus Leichhardt mayor Darcy Byrne – whose council now accepts the argument that community sport is essential in developing healthy lifestyles – has convened a summit meeting of local sporting bodies on Tuesday to sharpen the lobbying campaign. City of Sydney mayor Clover Moore, by contrast, continues to demonstrate complete indifference even though the last time her council audited its own sporting facilities it admitted it was at least 20 fields short of demand.

At Tuesday's meeting, football – by far the biggest participation sport in the inner city – will be well represented. So, too, should be hockey, cricket, netball, rugby union and athletics. Early this month the draft plans for the Bays Precinct were finally revealed and the "Spaces to Play" request for seven new sporting fields was predictably ignored.

Why predictably? Because there is a recent, depressing, precedent. The redevelopment of the nearby Harold Park trotting track into 1250 apartments is close to completion, and there is no substantive public open space despite a willingness by the developers to build two new sporting fields on the site.

Money talks. For football, of course, this is a keystone issue. It's not just about inner Sydney, it's about the entire metropolitan area, and large swathes of Melbourne. In Australia's two biggest cities, demand now far outstrips supply for a sport which is getting closer to turning people away due to the chronic shortage of facilities.

There's been progress in the campaign to address the issue, but not nearly enough. Politicians and developers may be a formidable adversary, but a bit more involvement, and leadership, from the FFA would help.