Whakatane District Council says league day was worth damage to fields

The grounds resembled a mud bath after the rugby league event on the weekend. Photo / Troy Baker

Despite damage to Rex Morpeth Park and surrounding sports fields and berms, Whakatāne District Council is standing behind its decision to hold the NZ Māori League Tamariki Tournament over the weekend.

An extended period of wet weather, combined with large numbers of people and vehicles using the sports fields and parking on the surrounding berms, has resulted in the fields being reduced to mud baths and deep trenches where vehicles have damaged the ground.

Nevertheless, the council's community experience general manager, Georgina Fletcher, said it was delighted to have welcomed the young league players and their whānau to town.

"The tournament brought much joy to thousands of tamariki and their supporting whānau, hapū, iwi and clubs from across Aotearoa, created lifelong memories, and reignited a passion for junior rugby league.

"The council is proud Whakatāne was chosen as the tournament location."

Fletcher said the event was one of the largest sporting events to have been hosted on Whakatāne sports fields and it was unfortunate it coincided with a prolonged period of heavy rain.

"Whilst consideration was given to closing all or some of the fields following the first day, after the challenges of Covid-19 this would have been yet another disappointment for the tamariki and whānau involved.

"This, combined with the many hours of hard work put in by event organisers, coupled with the substantial costs already incurred by the 86 teams in order to attend, saw the council proceed with the tournament and staff worked with event organisers to adjust the use of the fields in an attempt to mitigate further damage."

Tyre tracks have caused extensive damage to berms around Whakatāne's sports fields. Photo / Troy Baker

The damage to the fields will mean they are not suitable for many of the sports teams that would have used them over the next month or two. Summer soccer, cricket, athletics and touch rugby will be affected by not being able to use the fields.

Athletics and Harrier Club president William Doney said the club was disappointed the track on the athletic field had been so badly damaged just as the club was beginning its summer season, however, he did not blame the council.

"It's unfortunate for us because we had senior athletics starting on Wednesday and now, we've got to change our plans or do something to work around it. The track is in no state to be running on at the moment."

He said children's athletics was due to start at the end of the school holiday and the club had a ribbon day coming up at the end of the month.

"So, we're just keeping our fingers crossed that the track will be up to scratch because we have a lot of kids coming down from Waikato-Bay of Plenty to take part.

"Hopefully, the council will do something to get it up and going by then.

"I've had a discussion with the council, and they've said they're going to try and do their best for us. We don't blame the council because it had been organised a long time ago for this event. Unfortunately, the weather is the weather, and you just don't know."

Doney, who organises the Toi's Challenge event in November, understands the costs involved in cancelling an event of that size.

"We've been caught out a few years back with the Toi's [Challenge]. We had thunder and lightning that was supposed to have been on the same day, but the sky opened up and let us have it without any thunder and lightning.

"So I know what is involved as far as organising goes. To cancel an event like that, you're looking at a lot of dollars."

He said there had been a lot of negative comments about the council on the club's Facebook page.

"We've taken a lot of it off. We can't blame them. The council do a lot for us."

Children had fun playing on and off the field during the NZ Māori League Tamariki Tournament. Photo / Troy Baker

Athletics club vice-president Dave Rondon was also keen not to "play the blame game", preferring to look forward to what could be done to accommodate the summer season.

"We may be able to get away with putting a smaller track for the kids on the high school end of the field where it is a little bit drier. It's really going to affect our 100m track, plus from the 200m mark on the main track."

He thought it would take about two months to bring the fields back to what they were.

"First, you've got to wait for it to dry out, get the mud off somehow and then they may have to be resown. They may have to roll it a bit."

Local Democracy Reporting asked the council what would be involved in restoring the fields.

Fletcher responded that "Papatuanuku [our fields] will heal in time".

She said council staff dedicated thousands of hours each year to maintaining the district's fields and shared the disheartenment felt by many in seeing the fields damaged.

"Council values all sporting codes and we are working with those clubs affected by the damage. Restoration of the fields and surrounding berms is a priority and with sunshine in the forecast we hope mother nature will play her part, too."

She said it was important to balance the damage to the fields with the positive boost in the health and wellbeing of the large numbers of young people involved.

"Tamariki have missed out many events over the past few years and trained for tournaments such as this only to have them cancelled at the last minute, so to be able to go ahead despite the conditions and to see such a large number of attendees having a great time and being active was testament to how sporting events, such as this one, have been missed.

She said the influx of visitors to the town was a silver lining and thanked everyone who made the visitors welcome.

The council would be working with NZ Māori Rugby League in the coming weeks to complete a full event debrief and a plan for improvements for next year's tournament.