Magazine - Taranaki Hockey Players set for another year wihtout Turf

By Editor in Hockey on 15th May 2009 6:00

Taranaki hockey players may as well brace themselves for another season without the Webster Field hockey turf. Completion of the much-delayed New Plymouth turf now requires at least two weeks of continuous dry weather a rarity in any Taranaki winter.

Ironically, too much water caused the problem in the first place. A burst water pipe destroyed the turf in March last year, forcing all senior and club players to the Stratford turf. The contract to repair and replace the turf was awarded to Sports Technology International last December.

But since then poor weather, a sinking stormwater pipe and difficulties in sourcing necessary materials has seen only sporadic work on the turf.

STI turf replacement project manager Shaun Goudie yesterday said they hoped to re-start work at the end of the week.With the necessary materials on site and facilities cleaned and ready to go, the laying of a shockpad between the asphalt and the playing carpet is all that is required to make the turf playable. But that may be a bigger hurdle than it sounds.

"Weather is critical to laying the surface," Goudie said. "We cannot lay it in wet weather and we need two weeks of continuously dry weather if not longer ... We are hopeful we will get it completed by the end of the month."

Nothing had been done on the turf in the past two weeks because workers had been committed at another turf, believed to be in the Wairarapa. Andy Fraser of the Webster Field Trust said he understood STI had several jobs around the country and were probably "over-committed". "You can force all you want but at the end of the day, if they are over-committed we can't do much about it."

Time was secondary to getting the job done well and the Taranaki Hockey Federation had been made aware of the situation, he said. "We don't answer to the hockey federation, but the turf's role is to facilitate hockey in New Plymouth. We are a bit like a shop. We have a turf and people come to us and book a time and the THF is one of those customers."

Source & More: www.stuff.co.nz
Article By Matt Rilkoff

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