Northland rugby league stalwarts Harry Clyde, 73, (left) and Val McDonald, 65, experienced a mix of emotions back at Whangārei's decrepit rugby league ground, Jubilee Park. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Northland rugby league stalwarts Harry Clyde, 73, (left) and Val McDonald, 65, experienced a mix of emotions back at Whangārei's decrepit rugby league ground, Jubilee Park. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Jubilee Park used to be Northland's premier rugby league ground, but has now fallen into disrepair with an uncertain future. In the second of a three-part investigation, reporter Adam Pearse looks into the park's famed history with two local league stalwarts.
"It all started in a hay paddock."
That washow Whangārei's Jubilee Park was described in a story on page nine of the Northern Advocate on Wednesday, July 22, 1964, previewing the game between France and the North Island Māori rugby league teams at the venue.
France's top rugby league players took on the North Island Māoris in 1964 at Jubilee Park. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The article describes a time 30 years prior when the land - which now sits alongside Tarewa Rd near the centre of town - was just a normal cow paddock, a musty old haystack standing plumb in its centre.
It wasn't until ex-Kiwi and All Black George Gillett prompted the then Northland Rugby League members to pool their resources and develop the ground in 1936, initially named Cossill's Park before it was changed to Jubilee Park.
Jubilee Park was an iconic rugby league ground back in its day. Photo / Michael Cunningham
The park went on to host a number of international rugby league teams, including Great Britain in August 1936 (the visitors beating Northland 34-nil) along with an American All Stars team and Australia in the 1950s around the same time a wooden grandstand was built.
Teams from all over the world came to play at Jubilee Park, including Great Britain, France, Australia and Papua New Guinea. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Now, Jubilee Park's illustrious history is all but forgotten as its field and buildings lie in ruin. The ground's clubrooms, which were ravaged by a 2016 fire, held much of the park's legacy in photos, trophies and records - now turned to ash.
There are few who know more of Jubilee Park's place in Northland rugby league history than Val McDonald and Harry Clyde.
McDonald, 65, moved to Northland from Auckland in 1976 at 22 years of age and played for Portland for about 12 years on the wing and at hooker.
After representing Northland, McDonald went on to manage and coach the Northland men's team as well as becoming the head of Whangārei City and Districts Rugby League Incorporated - the current owners of the park.
Val McDonald, who once trialled for the Kiwis and was a national-level swimmer in his youth, remembered his days at Jubilee Park fondly. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Clyde, 73, started playing league in Northland from about 1976 and would go on to spend about 40 years in the game. A proud Takahiwai halfback, Clyde made the Northland team a couple of years later, which was announced after a game at Jubilee Park.
Both men are now long out of the game but their passion for rugby league in Northland is obvious. Traipsing through the overgrown grass around the park's grandstand, they both chuckled as stories of the golden age of regional rugby league came to mind.
Harry Clyde, a former halfback for Takahiwai and Northland, hoped the park's future could benefit local rugby league clubs through a lease agreement. Photo / Michael Cunningham
"When you ran out, you'd see the people on the bank here and you'd hear your mother in the grandstand [yelling], 'C'mon boy'," Clyde said.
"You'd just get a big thrill in the old heart whether it was grand final day or an important match... the crowd would just roar."
As Jubilee Park was the regular venue for club grand finals, McDonald fondly remembered the days when players would warm-up by bucketing out sand on to the field to dry up wet spots before the game.
Val McDonald (left) and Harry Clyde in the early days. Photo / Michael Cunningham
But as nostalgic as their return to Jubilee Park was, both were dismayed to see Northland's great symbol of rugby league in tatters.
"It's certainly pretty sad seeing it in this state," McDonald said.
"It's a bloody eyesore every time you go past, there's the fence knocked down... the place is a mess and I'd hate to be a neighbour here."
The park's future is currently under negotiation. Clyde said while he would love to see rugby league played at Jubilee again, he felt an agreement which supported the struggling Northland rugby league clubs was a good option.
"The best way I'd see is to lease it out and get some money back into the league, especially with our Northern Swords team driving all the way to Wellington to play a game [this year], it's pretty sad really."
Standing in front of the overgrown grass which surrounds the old grandstand, McDonald (left) and Clyde were sad to see their old stomping ground in such a state. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Rugby League Northland general manager Phil Marsh, who lived only two minutes away from the park, said it was disheartening to see the crown jewel of Northland rugby league in such a state.
"It's sad to see the state of the fence up the top and the homeless people living in the changing rooms, it's really sad to see," he said.
"It was and is still thought of as the home of rugby league, [I'm] doubtful it'll ever go back that way."
Crowds packed the ground to watch the action. Photo / Michael Cunningham
Marsh said in an ideal future, he would have rugby league return to Jubilee Park. However, in a world where league funding was drying up, Marsh hoped the park's owners could find a solution which gave back to the sport.
