It has been a season full of sporting fun and lessons as Fraser Park celebrates its first full year of operation since reopening.
After being out of action for three seasons, the redeveloped park reopened in late September last year.
South Canterbury Rugby chief executive Tim Hyde-Smith said one of the big highlights for him was the return of club rugby to Fraser Park this season.
‘‘It’s been nearly four years since we had that and it was great having JAB rugby in the morning and then senior rugby in the afternoon. It was also great having more women’s games here as well.
‘‘At the start of the year, we had the universities here and we’ve had two Matatū training camps as well as a sort of football festival. We also had Crossfit and then some [rugby] league games before the club rugby season started in April.
‘‘We didn’t get our full operating function licence until September but we had some special licences through the year. We hosted the Rowing New Zealand [annual meeting] in April, and we’ve had lots of local businesses having both conference-type meetings and then also corporate functions here as well.’’
The park also played host to South Canterbury representative games, a South Island under-18 girls tournament, as well as some South Canterbury school tournaments over the course of the year.
The biggest challenge the park had faced that year was with the grass, Mr Hyde-Smith said.
‘‘We do have a hybrid turf but the artificial part of that is only 40%, so 60% of it is still regular grass. When we got that long wet period over winter, the grass didn’t grow too well.
‘‘Apart from one weekend, the guys did really well getting all the junior rugby going. I think a lot of other winter sports were cancelled around that same time. Andy [Colvill] and Caro [Rhodes] worked really hard at making sure that rugby was still out in the community at that time.’’
There were a few lessons to take into next year, he said.
‘‘We’re looking at hopefully getting some more seating outside, as well as some more outside toilets for when people come, but mostly it’s probably just learning to manage the grass, the field.
‘‘Looking at it now, it looks so amazing, but we’ve played half the season with not a lot of grass. There’s always going to be those first couple of years with the grass situation, the weather, the roots being strong enough underneath and things like that.
‘‘Overall, there’s been a great response from people coming to visit the park, things have seemed to have flowed pretty well and we’ve learnt a lot over the year.’’
Mr Hyde-Smith said there would be a lot of sport and events at Fraser Park to look forward to for next year.
‘‘We have the Crusaders, Highlanders game on January 30, so we’re busy planning for that. We’re also starting to plan the club season and then we’re working with the Matatū girls at maybe having a game here in that sort of July period.
‘‘We have a bit more league at the beginning of the year, the universities are coming back again as well. We’ll also have Crossfit, and we are also in talks to hopefully get a New Zealand XV Heartland game in late October, early November.’’
He was thankful to everyone who had supported the park and South Canterbury Rugby this year.
‘‘We’re very thankful for all the businesses and people who’ve been supporting us on and off the field. We’ve got a great facility, a lot of the teams that come here are very envious of what we’ve got.
‘‘It does come with some financial obligations as well, we’ve navigated through this year but it’s been a bit tight. So very thankful to those people, those businesses that have supported us in that way.
‘‘I just think it’s been an exciting year, a learning year, and we can just go forward in a really good mindset for next year.’’
