Grounds at saturation point
Ongoing and persistent wet weather is putting a spanner in the works for Wellington’s winter sports players.
Significant restrictions and, in some cases, closures of the city’s sportsfields over the past fortnight look likely to continue this weekend, mainly impacting football and rugby.
Wellington City Council’s parks, sport and recreation operations manager, Wendi Henderson, said rain over the past 14 days, coupled with 17 ‘‘wet days’’ in May, meant some grass sportsfields had not had a chance to dry out.
While light rain was expected over the next couple of days, she hoped it would not put too much of a dampener on this weekend’s sports draws.
‘‘There are likely to be some restrictions given the amount of rain this week already,’’ she said.
‘‘However, it’s a little too early in the week to make any key decisions just yet for the weekend.’’
Capital Football operations manager Lisa Jones said the past three weekends had seen hundreds of cancellations and restrictions due to heavy rain and its impact on several football grounds.
‘‘I believe that each weekend we’ve had about 100 games affected. It’s really hard for any field to cope with this rain.’’
While wet winter weather was nothing new for Wellington, Jones said it was always a hard situation to navigate from both a planning and financial perspective.
‘‘Last year, we had the same issues but it was a more severe winter. Luckily, we had a good April and May this year, so the restrictions started later this year,’’ she said.
‘‘We didn’t have a financial loss but we have spent more money on a drainer to do the work quickly. That costs us $70 an hour.’’
Similar sentiments were echoed by the Wellington Rugby Football Union (WRFU), which had experienced restrictions across the region – not just on Wellington City Council-controlled grounds.
That had resulted in the cancellation of most junior rugby as well as some senior grades.
‘‘While we have had wet winters in the past, this season is unique given the sheer amount of rainfall, which has almost been non-stop for more than two weeks, a spokesman said.
But the WRFU believed that some damage could be minimised through a common sense approach.
‘‘Clubs and schools respecting that when grounds are closed for training that they are not used, and at junior level having parents stand outside the field of play for junior matches when they play on half or quarter-sized fields.’’
Additionally, the council has been encouraging codes to play at off-peak times to get games played and maximise artificial sportsfields as much as they can.
‘‘Ultimately we want as many games played as possible,’’ Henderson said. ‘‘We’re all working towards the same outcome.
‘‘We have the ground capacity to keep as many matches being played as possible but, unfortunately, there will still have to be restrictions or closures, otherwise the fields will not last through until the end of August,’’ she added.
‘‘I believe that each weekend we’ve had about 100 games affected.’’ Capital Football operations manager Lisa Jones