Paintball tournament leaves mess at Waikato Stadium

The mess left on the Waikato Stadium playing surface by a weekend paintball tournament has upset Waikato Rugby Union and Chiefs chief executive Gary Dawson.

He said the No 1 field had large patches of dead grass and was covered with jelly-like paintballs.

It meant the Chiefs have to move to the rock-hard, semi-renovated No 2 field for their pre-season training, and threatened a Kingz National Soccer League game on January 31.

Stadium manager Mark Christie said he had not expected the tournament to cause so much damage, but repairs would be completed in time for the Kingz match against Sydney Olympic.