Basketball: Breakers arena floor not up to standard

Claudelands Event Centre, Hamilton. Photo / Christine Cornege

Hamilton's new $68 million Claudelands Arena has been hit by news that the NZ Breakers basketball team will not play competitive matches there because of a substandard court floor.

The Breakers played there on September 15 in the opening pre-season match against the Wollongong Hawks, but found the ball lost its bounce when it hit certain spots around the edges of the pre-laid court.

Breakers community partnership manager Hayden Allen said the team would struggle to play competitively at the new arena, which opened in July, because the floor was not the same quality as the permanent floor at their home venue, the North Shore Events Centre.

The temporary wooden floor was purchased second-hand from Singapore after being used for the Youth Olympics basketball last year and is laid down in slabs especially for sports matches.

The Hamilton City Council confirmed there were some issues with the concrete surface at Claudelands Arena which had affected the performance of the sprung floor used for indoor sports and took some of the bounce off the basketball in certain spots.

"You are so used to playing with one sort of floor that hasn't got any deficiencies in it, basically, then you came to a game that may be a bit serious and the game is on the line, and if you were to dribble the basketball and it hit an edge or hit a corner and it just stopped on you then that could be the game," Mr Allen said.

However, all the other aspects of the arena - with the exception of the floor - had passed with top marks and the team was already looking at returning to play a less serious game there next year. The floor hadn't concerned players on September 15 because pre-season matches were more laid back. "All in all, from our point of view in terms of coming to Hamilton, it was outstanding - a great facility. It's a great set-up and great support, which is great considering the [Rugby] World Cup was on, and it was a good vocal crowd."

Hamilton City event facilities manager Mark Christie said the council would be shaving a few millimetres of concrete from the floor before any more basketball games were played, but said the teams had been told about the issues before the game.

"The Breakers also indicated they were happy with the venue's performance, but had indicated before the match they would not be taking any competitive games out of Auckland."

The council defended the second-hand purchase because at $150,000 it was good value for money.

Vector Arena also uses a temporary floor, and the Breakers were "holding bated breath" to find out what it would be like for their first game on October 28 against the Sydney Kings.

Trust Waikato Netball played its first match at the stadium this month, and its regional manager, Ben Sinnamon, said they could not fault the arena and were looking to play more games there next year.

FUTURE EVENTS
Sport bookings for Claudelands Arena for 2011/12:

Confirmed
Six - including the Lion Foundation

Hopeful
NZ Netball, Piston Basketball and several fight-type events

Target
Twelve - Cup Netball, Breakers, Roller Ghouls Derby, NZ Hack and Pony and National Marching Champs, and Magic Netball

* Bookings as of September 6, 2011