Flooding at the Greerton Marist Rugby Club on March 27, which resulted in the closure of its four fields. Photo / Supplied
The “lake” at Greerton Marist Rugby Club has finally dried up following heavy rain in March, allowing three of the club’s four fields to reopen.
The fourth field is still “very wet”, a Tauranga City Council spokeswoman said.
Heavy rain on March 27 caused the Waiorohi Stream to burst its banks and flood the Greerton park grounds, forcing the closure of all four rugby fields and displacing hundreds of junior and senior players.
The neighbouring Greerton Marist Netball Club’s two courts were also inundated but were reopened on April 20 after extensive clean-up.
Greerton Marist Junior Rugby Club chairwoman Lajanne Smith said the downpour left the area around the clubrooms “resembling a lake”, with floodwaters rising to shoulder height in parts.
Smith said the field closures had significantly disrupted training and preparations for the junior rugby season, set to start on May 2, impacting 15 junior teams — around 296 players — and four senior teams.
Junior teams were forced to relocate training to multiple venues, including Greerton Village School and Taumata School, while senior teams trained at Baypark Arena and Te Wati Park in Maugatapu.
Smith said access to the grounds was vital not just for training and matches but for the club’s culture, helping grow the club’s membership and hosting social events.
She said members of the wider Greerton community also used the grounds.
“Last season, we also had drainage issues. The council tried to address them by digging up parts of the drainage system, but it didn’t fully resolve the problem.”
Smith said she was frustrated by what she perceived as a “lack of urgency” from the council to fix the problem and questioned whether portable pumps could have helped speed up the draining faster.
Greerton Marist Rugby Club vice‑president Steve Muir said the club’s leased grounds were in a flood zone and climate change meant there was “no quick fix”.
“It’s a big problem. Last month, we had two cyclones, followed by more severe weather this month when Cyclone Vaianu hit the Bay of Plenty region.”
He said on April 11, the club’s premier team had to play its first home game of the 2026 season in Te Puke, resulting in the cancellation of planned promotional and revenue-generating events.
“Our teams having to train or play elsewhere causes huge disruptions.
“Unfortunately, flooding is always going to be a risk for us.”
Muir said the club had regular discussions with the council over the issues.
He said it was “huge relief” to have the three fields open again, as this weekend the premier team, the development team and the women’s team all had home games scheduled on the grounds.
Tauranga City Council head of spaces and places Alison Law said three fields had been reopened at the weekend after being mowed and line-marked.
The last field was still “very wet” with no timeline for reopening and was being inspected weekly.
Law said drainage pumps were working properly, but drainage of the fields was “heavily influenced” by river levels and water volumes across the wider catchment.
“Greerton Park operates as a stormwater sink during heavy rain events.
“While this is not ideal for sports users, it provides an essential function for the wider Greerton community, much the same as some of our other reserves.”
She said portable pumps would not have helped reduce the flooding faster.
“We expect this to happen more as the climate changes ... Field drainage improvements are planned for later this year.”
Law said the council would continue working with Greerton Marist Rugby Club to provide alternative locations if it could, when the fields were unavailable.
The flooding also caused major disruption for Greerton Marist Netball Club’s five teams.
Club netball co-ordinator Shelley Sherwin said when the water finally receded, the courts were covered in a thick layer of silt, sludge and debris.
She and her husband spent Easter Monday scraping and shovelling “muck, gunk and debris” from the courts, and clearing fallen tree branches.
She said Cyclone Vaianu had further delayed reopening, and the courts required thorough cleaning before they were reopened on April 20.
Sandra Conchie is a senior journalist at the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post who has been a journalist for 25 years. She mainly covers police, court and other justice stories, as well as general news. She has been a Canon Media Awards regional/community reporter of the year.