Manawatu¯ under water
If there is a rain god, then the Manawatu¯ Rugby Union must be behind with its instalments this year. Take Saturday, when the Turbos splashed about in their wetland against Taranaki: the forecast had been for a 100 per cent chance of rain and that was a crowd killer.
The same at the season-opener against the Magpies maulers when the rain arrived at kickoff and many patrons bolted.
Manawatu¯ get only five home games and Saturday’s was a precious day match drowned.
As daylight disappeared, never before have I seen the floodlights switched on at 2pm.
Such was the deluge on Saturday, measured at 15.4 millimetres, even the sand drainage couldn’t cope and nor could the CET Arena stormwater system.
Arena boss John Lynch knew the Metservice was warning the beast was coming and it had already flooded parts of Horowhenua en route north.
The southerly gave the semi-hypothermic Manawatu¯ backs a chance to experience the freezing wind chill of Athletic Park southerlies of bygone days.
Yes, this was evil Wellington muck and had no place in our enclave, where westerlies are the prevailing and easterlies bring the chills.
It took me back to the 1975 water polo test against Scotland, when there were lakes on Eden Park and the All Blacks still ran the ball. Saturday’s were ponds by comparison, but conditions were more treacherous at the Arena because of the freezing south-easterly blowing.
However, the big wet did aid Manawatu¯ when Hamish Northcott’s grubber kick held up in the drink, enabling Ben Werthmuller to water-slide on to the ball to score, not far from colliding with a sponsor’s quad-bike.
To prove the sand drainage was trying hard, the untreated areas outside the sidelines were awash.
This was the biggest deluge on match day since 14.4mm of rain fell in a heap leading up to the North-south rugby match in August 1980, well before ‘‘all-weather’’ fields came into vogue. To
enable the match to proceed, the Palmerston North City Council and the fire brigade pumped half a million litres of water from the ground.
The same day over at the netball at Vautier Park, a captain of one team, after winning the toss, said she would ‘‘take the shallow end’’.
This time, perhaps because of recent drainage work, Vautier didn’t flood as it once did and while the netballers said they were a hardy bunch, their games were just finishing as the southerly hit.
It struck just before halftime in the rugby on Saturday, plunging temperatures from 13 degrees Celsius to 6C, and with the swirling wind chill the ‘‘low apparent temperature’’ was 0C. The rain drenched half of those in the so-called covered grandstand and the old timers, as in former players, migrated up to our usually cold, but dry, lair in the back of the stand.
In 2010, the Turbos played in a swamp at Mt Maunganui’s Baypark Stadium and the rain was so heavy we couldn’t discern the players from our leaky press box. Manawatu¯ lost 41-13 and coach Dave Rennie was filthy at the lack of effort.
A week later on an equally filthy night when the Oval was drenched, a dispirited Manawatu¯ were swamped by Auckland, the Turbos’ first wet game since 2008.
There was better news in 2013 when the Turbos at home beat Taranaki in pelting rain and 41kmh south-westerlies.
This stuff might follow Turbos coach Peter Russell around. When coaching in Japan his team had to play in the worst weather in 60 years and in England his Falcons played after the worst snowstorm in Newcastle in 30 years. Hot gas blowers were deployed under a parachute-type cover, while nearby at the Newcastle United soccer ground at St James’ Park, they had a heated field.
At a drenched Brisbane Roar match in Brisbane I paid to watch not many moons ago, each time the lines on the field were re-painted the rain washed them away, but play continued.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, Palmerston North’s soccer fields became unplayable and matches were called off, while at Hockey Manawatu’s flooded twin turfs, the two club finals were abandoned and the trophies shared. With the pavilion packed and every appliance plugged in, bang, the power cut off. The women’s final was called off close to halftime and although there were hot showers, some shot home and returned for the end-of-season festivities, unfazed by the storm.
One former Manawatu¯ women’s rep recalled how in a hockey final in atrocious conditions in Christchurch against Canterbury, the Manawatu¯ players slipped plastic garbage bags underneath their emerald uniforms only for the Cantabrian wimps to call it off.
At the Manawatu¯ Golf Club on Saturday, when the southerly hit during club champs qualifying, about half of the field didn’t wait for a siren. They sensibly trudged off the course, cold and soaked, with greens disappearing under water.