Get those cars off our rugby pitch

PHIL REID/ The Dominion Post

HOSPITAL PASS: Poneke players Misiluni Moananu and Kenny Anderson practise their skills among Wellington Hospital workers' cars on the old showgrounds site. Staff will lose access to the 200 free parks in November.

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A concrete wasteland is heading for a $1.5 million makeover to become a floodlit, artificial pitch built to international standards for the next Rugby World Cup.

Wellington City Council's sports portfolio leader, John Morrison, said a car park behind the old show buildings in Hutchison Rd in Newtown would be transformed into a full-sized all-weather pitch. "At the moment it is a scungy old wasteland full of weeds and blocks of concrete."

An international-sized ice skating rink for the Wellington showground site was championed by Kerry Prendergast during her successful 2001 mayoralty campaign. Developers pulled the plug on the proposal five years later.

The new turf development would include floodlights, a perimeter mesh fence and changing rooms.

A resource consent application is expected to be lodged by the council within the next few weeks. Work could start before the end of the year.

It would be built to International Rugby Board standards as part of the council's successful bid to host pool games, and two quarterfinals, at the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The standards aim to ensure the pitch has enough "give" so players are not injured when they hit the turf.

Teams playing cup matches in the capital including the All Blacks, South Africa, Australia and France could train at the ground, RWC 2011 tournament services general manager Nigel Cass said. "It won't be the main area where they train ... but it certainly adds to the facility at Rugby League Park."

Playing rugby on artificial turf has proved successful this year in Auckland, where College Rifles Rugby Club has installed two fields.

The showground pitch could also host club rugby games, Wellington Rugby Union amateur rugby manager Will Caccia-Birch said. "It will be built to specifications so we can play top-level rugby on it. We could play four or five games a day."

Poneke senior players Misiluni Moananu and Kenny Anderson threw a rugby ball around the site yesterday. "It is a bit of an odd place," Anderson said.

"But I had a look around and I could envisage where everything would be and I think it would be quite a good venue."

The pitch would also be used for soccer training and club games, and could become a back-up practice venue for Wellington Phoenix.

Capital Football spokesman Cliff Bowden said it would reduce the number of games cancelled because of boggy grass fields. "We are up to our fifth cancelled weekend for some grades."

- © Fairfax NZ News

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Julian   #2   05:52 pm Jul 27 2009

There is a brand new rugby training pitch immediately next door to this which is hardly ever used. Why do we need two?

Julian   #1   05:32 pm Jul 27 2009

More floodlight pollution, just what we need. I bet the lighting sucks as much as the Hockey Stadium's lights and the lights from TV commercial filming in the CBD at night.

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