The Arena might not be perfect but it gets the job done

When the Wellington Phoenix played in Palmerston North last weekend, Sky TV’s two football commentators did not seem happy to be ensconced at the Arena. Jason Pine and Paul Ifill had the microphones and Pine bemoaned the fact that the Perth Glory players not only had to undertake their long flight from Western Australia to Wellington but then had to spend two hours on the bus north.

Surely, that should have been a positive for the Phoenix chances. There was frequent mention of ‘‘mud’’ when there was an elongated skid mark in front of the grandstand. They failed to allude to the fact the Arena is primarily a stockcars venue in summer and the ‘‘mud’’ was either scarring from stockies which occasionally spew off the track or was the wet lime on the speedway track, which wasn’t part of the soccer field.

That is the risk when someone else books out your Wellington stadium.

They could have gone to Napier and added another two hours plus to the journey.

I admit, I could have attended the game and saved myself the angst of defending Palmy.

Former player Ifill harked back to when the Phoenix did not want to come back after last playing in Palmerston North in December 2009, against Sydney FC in front of 6459 fans. They struck a swirling, cold 24-46kph wind, still way below the ferocity of Wellington’s endemic gales.

The Phoenix lost 1-0 that day and coach Ricki Herbert slammed his players for their poor first-half performance after they failed to use the wind. Anyway, that was a westerly and now Manawatū ’s weather has switched to drying easterly winds. The wind that day was freakish but everywhere cops extremes at times.

It took the Phoenix 13 years to come back. In 2009 the owner was Terry Serepisos, and the Arena had to write off an uncollectable $5160 debt from that game.

Rugby broadcaster Keith Quinn often quips in jest about Palmy winds but says he always does that to take the heat off his beloved home of Wellington.

The Phoenix people no doubt appreciated they were coming to a multi-use venue and the few scars on the field had negligible impact on the game. After the Jucy Fest for hiphoppers on January 7, the ground had been scuffed up at the goalkeeper’s Pascal St end from the stage and mosh pit. About 12,000 people attended, most of them standing on the field, while there were 4500 at the football. It is common in soccer for goalbox areas to be worn. Another Jucy Fest in Tauranga was cancelled because of dangerous winds and the one in Auckland at Manukau became a mudslide.

Call me hypersensitive because Palmy consistently gets a bad rap but the commentators also alluded to the heavy going on the ground, clearly unaware the Arena oval has long been a water-based turf put down at great expense. After 15 hot dry days, most of us tending to gardens welcomed the 14mm of rain on the Friday night and the Arena carpet quickly drained it away.

The Arena might not be perfect, with the seating too distant from the pitch and it does incur wear and tear from the stockcars, but it gets the job done.

By the time the Manawatū Turbos return in winter it is usually shipshape.

The homesick talkers should have been thankful the game had not been scheduled for poor Auckland. Two Phoenix games are booked there in March and April.

Eden Park was way more of a lake last week than it was for the so-called All Blacks’ water polo test in 1975.

The streets were flooded then too and as a kid I sat with feet immersed in water, jubilant when Beegee Williams splashed over against Scotland.

Meanwhile, Phoenix coach Ufuk Talay afterwards said the Arena surface was a ‘‘little bit patchy’’ but ‘‘was the same for both teams’’. He was more angered by the red card against his player which changed the game.

Pine repeated halftime hearsay that a demolition derby had been held on the field two weeks earlier and Ifill said whoever allowed that ‘‘needed a telling off’’.

All nonsense because in a demo derby, any car that puts a wheel off the track is kicked out.

Meanwhile, the Arena complex bookings are full from now on with the stockcar teams’ champs this weekend and the Hurricanes playing on April 2 against the Western Force, who also have to come all the way from Perth. In netball, the Pulse play the Magic on March 5 and don’t rule out the Silver Ferns returning in August.

Also in August is the Armageddon Expo for geeks and gamers, many of who dress in costumes and carry fake weaponry. Last year, alarmed residents called the police who happily found the armed Armageddons were harmless critters.