Training hub at NZCIS

Interesting article in the Dom Post about the council establishing a training hub at Martin Luckie for the Phoenix and possibly the Lions.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/sport/77648535/new-phoenix-training-grounds-proposed-forcing-league-kids-to-move-on

Can understand why the Phoenix want to move away from Newtown Park. Offices and changing rooms are tiny. And with the number of teams, they probably need access to more than one pitch at the same site. I'm sure new signings will enjoy the brisk southerly blasting through Martin Luckie.

Not exactly good PR, that.

I love how the article is slanted towards the big professional club taking away the grounds from the poor little rugby league kids...

Though I do sympathise with them that on such short notice they are possibly losing their ground, for the Nix it would be good for them to have it all in one place with them outgrowing Newtown Park.

Will it have any effect on the relationship with Wellington United, or are they kind of run separately anyway apart from their first team being a Nix team?

Has to be done. 

Change always affects someone. As long as the council find a suitable alternative for the kids and others, it shouldn't be a big deal.

Yeah, exactly - it could actually be an improvement. Just saying that the tone of the article is very much 'big boys with money come and stomp on junior rugby league battlers'.

We need more of:

"Welnix steps in to save the future of rugby league"

"Children saved  from hypothermia in a Nix of time"

"The Nix takes the southerly on the chin, kids with oval balls moved to a safer ground"

etc.

I wonder how much the whole thing is costing if a 550k blow out isn't that big a deal. I also wonder how much the nix are footing? Or if they are just guarantying that they will be long term tenants if the council does the work?

I'm guessing the nix pay rent? 

Surely the league kids can just go to newtown park 2? They aren't far away from each other.

Would be great to see some more information about the development.

thank the Phoenix for sucking up all the Parks budget for the next year. Great for all the other parks in Welli which will not see any new grass seed applied this season

I honestly think that the editorial slant of the Dom Post/Stuff, and TV news, re:Nix issues hurts the club. A lot of the general public in Wellington hold quite negative opinions on the Nix and I think it's partly because there only stuff they see in the media is dismissive or outright negative. And when we do have positive stories (license extension for instance) they get buried.

The Herald's coverage of NZ football and the Nix used to be as bad but they've really upped their game recently which is great. 

So we won't be seeing MR Edge at the Phoenix functions anymore for his free food and drink.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/77724020/Wellington-ratepayers-to-fund-new-training-ground-for-capitals-elite-sports-teams

Wow, Wellington's councilors are as narky and negative about any change as Auckland's.

Election year. It shows how well the city is doing if the two major issues are a cycle lane and a sports field.

Stick to your own council son

makes a change from it all being spent on Karori park I suppose

The more I read, the less I understand about how the council spends our rates, and what justification it gives.

Maybe you should pay more interest then

I can't stand all the Nimby's that have come out of the wood work. The council has some great initiatives, the revamping of the inner city lanes to make niche shops and markets for instance is great - just look at how successful Hannah lane is off Eva St, yet we have people moaning about wasting rate payers money, they moan whenever the council wants to spend money on anything vaguely interesting or relevant in trying to grow in a global world.

I too own two properties in Wellington, and I pay two lots of rates. I love the fact that the council is investing on making the city more interesting and vibrant. I love the laneways, I love cycleways, I love Makara Peak, I love Zealandia, I love the night markets, I love the CBD, and I love the Phoenix.  These are all things that people complain about.

People like Feverish want us to live in the boring world that is the rest of New Zealand, where everything is Beige, lacks imagination, and is quite frankly dull. Wellington teeters on the verge of this, and I have a fear that this former interesting city is becoming more conservative. That we have lost that thing that makes us Wellington, that cuba st/aroness, that legacy given to us from the Carmen's of this world.

We are no longer Aro Valley, we are now Botany Downs. And if the transformation continues I'm seriously concerned about where I'm going to live, because I don't want to live in that Wellington.

Stuff a piddly cheap training ground, how about a decent fudgein football stadium?

Just over in Vegas for a few days so I'll get back to your comment later kid

fixed

Once I got used to Christchurch, then we had an earthquake.

The problem is the great Kiwi tradition of sleepy suburbs and small-minded provincial towns. This has only been made worse by the property boom which puts much more economic and thus political power in the hands of suburban property owners, the people for whom Iona Pannet ("lol the Nix suck so we shouldn't spend money on them") and her kind speak.

Being a local body politician seems like a sweet way to collect a pay cheque for doing fudge all.

Does the Fever have enough money in the war chest to fund a campaign?

You're not wrong there.  Stuff and Dom post are read by a lot of Wellingtonians, and if you are always hearing about the big bad football club then there is less chance of people sympathizing, and being interested in said club.

The article does look like a rock and a hard place.  Two sports struggling to hold footing in the area having to squabble over a ground.  Why don't they fight with rugby grounds?  Then we could have a two David's vs Goliath story.  But then all the rugby fanboys would pack a tanty and we would have no chance to convert them.

I'm stumped, just build the grounds Wellington Council.

Some of those small towns still close thir shops early on a Saturday and close on Sundays. But I wont mention the Waiarapa.

How they voted.

For: Celia Wade-Brown, Justin lester, Andy Foster, Jo Coughlan, Simon Woolf, Paul Eagle, Malcolm Sparrow, Mark Peck

Against: Sarah Free, Nicola Young, Helene Ritchie, Ray Ahipene-Mercer, Simon Marsh, Iona Pannett.

Absent: David Lee

Not a fan of Nicola Young after that Kate Sheppard lights thing that was really just her creating a signup list, then her comment in the meeting "calling it a rich man's game" shows she has no idea. Iona Pannett came out with the stupidest comment of the meeting though with "Pannett asked council staff how well the Phoenix were doing in the A-League – they are currently ninth of 10 teams on the competition ladder – and questioned whether that deserved half a million dollars."

The Kate Sheppard episode: http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/72097223...

She does seem rash, she hears a rumour of something and makes a big storm about it without checking the facts. She and Paul Eagle made a big fuss about the Island Bay cycleway being a couple of million over budget and it turned out that it was in fact under budget. 

To be honest, from what I've seen, I would be happy enough with Lester as Mayor, but his support of the nix and the island bay cycleway might cost him, same with Celia - in policy I don't know if there is much different between them.

If you don't support something you are a nimby! We had the same situation with the stadium out the Hutt. People who genuinely did not want to see Lower Hutt spending millions of dollars on a stadium to compete with Wellington were derided as Nimbys. If we are going to spend money on anything that appears 'vibrant' you could spend money on everything. I would love to read what people on here said about Paul Eagle wanting the Council to fund the Lions. Couldn't that make Wellington more vibrant?

I'm not even against the money being spent but the demonisation is just silly.

Guys - If you want to talk about local politics take it to off topic. Stay on topic please.

Sounds like a lot of people own rental properties. 

Tax dodgers!

I don't actually have renters, we owned our first home for years and used the equity in it to buy a new home. The idea was to sell the first home after we moved but there were some issues with it that we are working through so doing a bit of diy before we sell it.

Taken way longer than expected.

so with 8-6 does this mean yay?

Yes.

Then yay.

Shark, Is Helene Ritchie still alive or is "it" a cardboard cut out like the Brockie in attendance at our last home game. The way the local media portrayed this whole thing was that big brother football has kicked out little league rugby league. Probably done so by a Union fan to stir it all up and invite more angst against the Nix.