Pitches wrecked

Canterbury Hockey is reeling from the loss of two multimillion-dollar artificial pitches at Porritt Park destroyed in Saturday's earthquake, while Canterbury rowing groups face major repairs at nearby Kerrs Reach.

The two Avonside-based codes bore the brunt of the 7.1 magnitude quake that brought sport in the region to a halt.

Chief executive Tim Shannahan said the Canterbury Hockey board might have to review whether it can rebuild at Porritt Park – its headquarters for 35 years – after extensive damage to the two pitches, lighting towers, an administration block and the main stadium building.

"Both fields have experienced considerable movement in the sub-base," Shannahan said. "A lot of sand and mud has come up through the ground and that's probably created some significant undulations.

"We've got maybe 500-millimetre movement in certain sections. It's certainly not a perfectly flat playing surface any more.

"The reality of that is those fields are going to have to be demolished and we will have to start from scratch."

The ground's light towers had shifted with the movement in the ground and the main administration block had sunk in one corner.

Shannahan said the two international-standard "water turfs" at Porritt Park would cost close to $4 million to rebuild. He could "only guess at the cost" of replacing "a 1000-seat stadium with eight changing rooms".

It was a blow for Canterbury Hockey, which had worked hard over the past few years to get back on its feet and get itself into a position to install a new, artificial pitch at St Bede's College.

Shannahan said the quake had left hockey with just two fields – the water-based St Bede's turf and an older, artificial pitch at Nunweek Park in Harewood, which would only serve half the player base of about 4000.

He hoped the devastation might mean funding support would now go ahead for a $1.5m second turf at Nunweek Park next year. Canterbury Hockey has saved $500,000 for the project. The city council had also set aside $550,000 for the project "in 12 months time", Shannahan said.

"The question now is are they willing to pull that forward to help a community organisation that's suffering at this time, and will other funding agencies step up."

The Canterbury Hockey board faced big decisions: would Porritt Park be rebuilt or would a new venue be considered?

Yesterday was supposed to be Canterbury Hockey's finals day in a number of divisions.

A call would have to be made on whether the season was left incomplete or "whether we try and schedule finals on the other two grounds on a rolling basis for a number of weeks".

Meanwhile, rowing organisations were facing major repairs to two 50-year old buildings at Kerrs Reach, said Canterbury Rowing Association (CRA) secretary Brian Neill yesterday.

The two-storey structures could be worth $2m each.

"We've had massive damage, structurally, to both the Avon Rowing Club building and the Leander Club building [owned by the Canterbury and Union rowing clubs]," Neill said.

A five-metre by 35m riverside deck at the Leander building had collapsed.

The Union club's eight boat was crushed when a wall collapsed.

- © Fairfax NZ News