Best , no .. worst surfaces in Wellington
Best , no .. worst surfaces in Wellington
Porirua Park last night was in fantastic nick. Truly excellent. Which got me to thinking...
The best surfaces that I have seen in Wellington this year are (in order):
1. Endeavour Park
2. Porirua Park
3. Daylight
4. Newtown Park #2
5. Newtown Park #1
6. The Rest
It's a credit to Porirua City Council that the two best two by some distance are in their area. Well maintained, great flat surfaces, good grass, etc etc.
I haven't seen Bell Park or Farrington Field yet this year though, so open to discussion.
Anyone else?
Porirua park looked in great nick last night, I wonder how many game sits had in the last few weeks?
Worst so far that I've played on is Karori Park!!! utter sh*te again!
Worst so far that I've played on is Karori Park!!! utter sh*te again!
I'm fairly familiar with Petone Memorial.
Petone 1 is okay, thanks mostly to the Pickering Family who have been working on it themselves.
Petone 2 is in quite good nick, not having been used for Hilton Petone.
Petone 3, the training pitch, is knackered but you'd expect that.
Petone 4 is pretty bad. Has not recovered from last year and Excell/Hutt CC have done absolutely nothing to it at all. Nothing. Zero. Zip. Zilch.
We played pre season on Centennial - and it was in magnificent nick. definitely better than newtown and endeavour at that point. Not sure if it has held up, but on its day fantastic surface.
And Bell Pk must be roughly as good as Newtown I would have thought
Marius Lacatus2009-05-21 15:19:33
Agree with Smithy there, Endeavour Park is absolutely pristine.
Revised list then.
5. Bell Park
I will have none of this Centennial > Endeavour malarkey, but I'll slot it in at #3.
1. Endeavour Park
2. Porirua Park
2. Porirua Park
3. Farrington Field/Centennial Park
4. Daylight
5. Bell Park
6. Newtown Park #2
7. Newtown Park #1
7. Newtown Park #1
8. The Rest
Some credit then to WCC for Centennial and Newtown.
Boooooyaaaaa to Hutt CC/Excell who trail woefully behind. Bell probably the best in the Valley, but that's not saying much. Bishop Park probably second!
Will report back on Prouse after this weekend.
I still reckon farrington as good as endeavour (in fact better at its best), and played on endeavour 3 weeks ago (it was v good). Although, ill concede i havent seen farrington field for 2 or 3 months.
hutt park is actually was actually quite decent last week except for about a quarter nearest the clubrooms had a bit of surface water, rest of the pitch was really nice
Yugoboss tells me its pretty good. Might slot in there just behind Newtown 1. Probably on a par with Petone 1 to be honest though. So not great.
Wilton Park
Definitely nice and hard when we played there in week three - so hard one of our players ended up in the neurology ward after a head on confrontation with the pitch.
Waihora (another porirua ground) the surrounds might not be that inviting but the ground it self drains well throughout the season is flat and well grassed. (was a temporary home to many Karori teams last season)
Davey F Park is slipping away now so will certainly be behind Endeavour, maybe even slightly worse than newtown. Just cant take a good downpour being against the bank and is porridge on one half of the field. Endeavour numero uno easy.
I'd like to put two cents in for Kilbirnie Park (The Bobbledrome) being in the bottom five, no one seems to like playing at our home ground and to be honest i can see why. I would say it ranks just above Raroa Park on a good day. Unfortunately, whoever looks after the three rugby paddocks that border Fortress Kilbirnie seems to apply the same pitch maintenance techniques to our green grren grass of home...
I'd like to put two cents in for Kilbirnie Park (The Bobbledrome) being in the bottom five, no one seems to like playing at our home ground and to be honest i can see why. I would say it ranks just above Raroa Park on a good day. Unfortunately, whoever looks after the three rugby paddocks that border Fortress Kilbirnie seems to apply the same pitch maintenance techniques to our green grren grass of home...
I am happy to second this nomination
Motion carried.
Bottom five then:
5th worst: Happy Valley
4th worst: Wakefield 4
3rd worst: Kilbirnie Park
2nd worst: Raroa Park
Worstest: Cobham Park (the sooner this becomes an indoor arena the better)
No hate for the Velo ?
Good point News
5th worst: Happy Valley
4th worst: Velodrome
3rd worst: Kilbirnie Park
2nd worst: Raroa Park
Worstest: Cobham Park (the sooner this becomes an indoor arena the better)
Hardly ever used, but Heretaunga Park is a shocker...teeny, miles from the road, no parking...
I like the way News's definition of a bad ground is one he has to walk to.
No mention of the surface or facilities...
Change by the park benches, walk over a wooden bridge to get there and pitch teeny (as stated) and sh*t.
Oh, and get f**ked.
crawford green is a shocker. honourable mention i would have thought at the very least
Has changing rooms + showers. That propels it into the "reasonable" category.
we got transferred there last year and it was horrendously bumpy
and if my memory serves me correctly ...
no showers either
Porirua Park last night was in fantastic nick. Truly excellent. Which got me to thinking...
The best surfaces that I have seen in Wellington this year are (in order):
1. Endeavour Park
2. Porirua Park
3. Daylight
4. Newtown Park #2
5. Newtown Park #1
6. The Rest
It's a credit to Porirua City Council that the two best two by some distance are in their area. Well maintained, great flat surfaces, good grass, etc etc.
I haven't seen Bell Park or Farrington Field yet this year though, so open to discussion.
Anyone else?
your right about the Porirua City Council. I have played an Onepoto and Kura in the past coupple of weeks - both in great nick
has anyone played on the new pitches at the Raceway
Woah! Kilbirnie is bad, but worse than the Veldrome? My gosh, really?
Not so honorable mention for Sinclair Park as well, where the Bubbles currently train. Not a match day pitch now, (at least not for adults). I remember when I was a nipper and WCC, in their infinite wisdom, decided to make it an all weather park by covering the whole thing in Lime, circa the softball diamond in miramar. So instead of having a mildly bumpy pitch that got very muddy occasionally, they created a Grand Canyon-esque water erosion feature (that Planetary scientists from NASA came to visit when planning the Mars Rover missions) when it rained and resmbled a Saharan sand storm that blanketed most of Houghton Bay when the Northly got above 15 knots. Good times...
I'd like to nominate Melrose as one of the worst - the pitch is on what seems to be a 45 degree slope and stinks like it's on top of a rubbish dump. There's the constant danger of being attacked by a baboon or a tiger, and there's no hot water in the showers.
There was no hot water at Newtown on Saturday either.
brilliant that a thread about the best surfaces can so easily degenerate into a slagging of the worst. far more enjoyable genre.
I guess it just points to the fact that there are far more terrible playing surfaces in Wellington than there are good ones.
Just an observation but why is it that all the stinking, minging, muddy, poorly maintained shambles pitches seem to be in WCC...?
The worst I can think of in the Hutt is probably the Heretaunga Ground that lazy News was whinging about earlier.
Having said that, as it's been biffing it down all day in the Hutt I suspect they are the grounds that will cause cancellations won't be the ones we are slagging here.
Oh, another one. Grenada North... dreadful.
Oh, another one. Grenada North... dreadful.
Just an observation but why is it that all the stinking, minging, muddy, poorly maintained shambles pitches seem to be in WCC...?
The worst I can think of in the Hutt is probably the Heretaunga Ground that lazy News was whinging about earlier.
cos theyre all on tips
Who? The groundsmen? Surely they get an hourly wage?
� Grenada North... dreadful.
This reminds me of a shocker we had there last year in the middle of that terrible weather spell we had last winter.
We turn up, and the middle of the pitch looks like the Somme, just without the machine guns. The corners of the pitch are some shade resembling green, but are under 5 inches of surface water. And the best bit - the goal posts had sunk in, so the cross bar was at the shoulder height. Luckily there were some practice goals left near-by, so we pulled out the sunken goals and replaced them with the practice ones. But was a mission. And the worst game of football I've ever been involved in, mainly because you actually couldn't play football on that surface.