Wainui sporting rivals agree on consolidating club grounds

Two fierce sporting rivals in Wainuiomata appear to have put their differences aside.

City councillors hearing submissions on the draft annual plan last week were told that if there is a sporting hub in Wainuiomata it should be on Wise Park.

Wainuiomata Sportsville chairwoman Kathy Wolfe said the eight clubs in the hub (bowls, football, croquet, softball, rugby league, rugby and cricket) accept that there has to be a merger of facilities. The best option is Wise Park as it is close to the central city, the mall and the BMX track.

That caught the attention of Mayor Ray Wallace, who was involved in an attempt in 2002 to get rugby and league to look at merged facilities.

‘‘I still have nightmares about that meeting in 2002.’’

Cr Max Shierlaw asked rugby club rep Dave Head if the club would be happy to move. Head replied there was a general consensus among the rugby fraternity that change was needed. Whether they will ‘‘back that up’’ by agreeing to move is not clear, he said.

Like most club administration volunteers, all his time goes into finding the $50,000 per year needed to keep the clubrooms open. Head said if council could provide a facility where volunteers could focus on administration, they would be doing rugby a big favour.

Wolfe said there has been a lack of investment in sporting facilities in Wainuiomata. A number of clubs are at risk as their membership grows older and they lose volunteers. Maintaining clubrooms is also becoming increas- ingly difficult and there was a general agreement that clubs need to consolidate on one ground.

Head said that in 2002, it had been claimed that the council was spending $750,000 on 43 hectares of sporting grounds in Wainuiomata. Most grounds are used by one code for six months and that is a waste of money.

Wolfe said that as a first step the council needs to spend $100,000 to investigate options.