LOST FOOTBALL GROUNDS OF WELLINGTON

We're at that weird part of the season, the National League is stuttering to a close, interrupted by the Oceania Champions League, while most clubs are into pre-season mode and while I'll probably watch a couple of those games I can't get enthused enough to write about them or take photos. So instead I've focused on my inner anorak and am having a look at some of the lost football grounds in Wellington.

 1. GEAR'S PADDOCK, PETONE

A view of the Gear Meat works in Petone and the paddocks where football was first played in Wellington

You start at the beginning don't you and this was the beginning for football in Wellington. Well almost, the actual beginning was on 8th June 1889 at Wellington College where Wanderers beat Rovers 2-0. The return match was on 22 June and ended in a 1-1 draw and was played at Mr Gear's paddock, which was adjacent to his meat works business.

The ground was used for many years, the benefit of it being privately owned was that Football didn't have to battle with other codes to be allocated grounds by the councils (although it is believed that other codes did also use the Gear Paddock, it's primary role was a football ground). This also meant that Petone played most of their games at home as they were one of only two clubs (Porirua's Mental Hospital FC being the other) that had an actual home ground. 

The use of it stopped sometime between the wars, It is likely that the Gear Meat Company ended the use as they required the land for their expanding business. The Gear Meat Company closed down in 1981 and today the site is a Pak n Save Supermarket.

2. ASSOCIATION PARK, KILBIRNIE

In the early 1900's as sporting codes grew the battle with councils for adequate grounds also grew. The Wellington councils were charging 5 pounds and 5 shillings for ground hire, while the codes accepted this there were issues with different groundsmen having different opinions on whether or not the grounds were usable. The most irking thing of this is there was no rebate for when the grounds couldn't be used. It was against this backdrop that several prominent members from the city's football clubs met and agreed to purchase a block of land in Kilbirnie for the use of the Wellington Football Association and Association Park was born. 

While the idea was good, a bit more homework on the ground probably should have been done. The area it was in is roughly where the Rongotai College grounds are today, but at that time it was an open and exposed area and not a great condition. It didn't take long for players to complain about the state of the ground and with access to the Basin Reserve, Association Park became a back up for main games and was used mainly by lower division footballers.

3. ATHLETIC PARK, NEWTOWN

Some of the Football games that have taken place at Athletic Park

A rugby ground, really? Athletic Park was the home of Wellington Rugby until the 1990's but it was on occasion used for football as well. The first two Chatham Cup Finals were played on this ground, the first in 1923 on a Monday afternoon! 

It was usually only bigger games that tended to be played here such as Cup Finals or Internationals and the ground had seen some big games. Teams such as FK Austria, IFK Gothenburg, and England have played NZ here. The biggest crowd was probably the 25000 that turned out to watch New Zealand take on Watford as a warm up for the 1982 world cup. The game ended 1-1 with John Barnes scoring from the spot for Watford in response to Steve Woodin's opener.

The ground closed in 1999 with Rugby Union moving to the new Westpac Stadium and it has since been converted into a retirement village 

4. KAIWHARAWHARA PARK

Kaiwharawhara Park with the old Waterside club rooms

Originally used for rugby, it was given over to football in the late 60s and Waterside moved in. While their first team played most of their games at venues such as the Basin Reserve, Te Whiti Park or Newtown Park, it gave them a reliable place to train. Although the quality of the ground was never the greatest, being at the bottom of three hills it tended to get very boggy. Still Waterside's trainings were well attended, especially on Thursday's although this may be more to do the card school than the football!

When Waterside merged with Karori Swifts in the late 80s the club moved up to Karori Park, Kaiwharawhara Park was still used for a few years before he club relinquished its right over the ground. 
*NB since publishing this it has been bought to my attention that Kaiwharawhara Park is still used by Waterside Karori for trainings and it is also used by the School girls league. In my defence when I last visited it it was looking unused but then that could have been in summer.......

5. BELL PARK, LOWER HUTT

Views of Bell Park, Lower Hutt  Photo TJF Photos

The most recent football ground to be lost. Hidden away behind the houses in the shadow of the Wainuiomata Hill and the Griffins factory and with massive nets set up to stop balls going into the neighbours gardens, it was quite a pleasant setting it was Lower Hutt's home for 93 years and even hosted National League games for a year in 1997. 

The one thing that let this ground down, like many in Wellington was drainage. Being at the bottom of a hill and on a flood plane it was never the greatest surface to play on. With costs of bringing the drainage up to standard looking to head into six figures and the Hutt City Council's push towards community sports hubs, Lower Hutt took the decision to move and are now based at Fraser Park.

A move to put housing on Bell Park was thwarted by the council. While there has been talk of a community sports trust taking over the club rooms nothing has happened on that front yet

6. BASIN RESERVE

Basin Reserve in 1931 PHOTO : ALEXANDER TURNBULL LIBRARY Ref: 1/2-087965-G

The home of Wellington Football for many years, a cricket ground during the summer and football during the winter. The ground had two pitches on it and would have four games played on a Saturday. The Wellington FA had an office within the grounds, allowing teams to transfer players up to two hours before kick off as long as they payed their 2 quid fee! If you were involved in football in Wellington it was the pace to be and crowds of 3-8000 were not uncommon.

As well as regular football the ground has hosted 51 Chatham Cup Finals, visiting teams such as Cardiff City, Wolerhampton Wanderers,  Newcastle United, Werder Bremen, numerous internationals and has acted as a home ground in the National League for the likes of Wellington United, Miramar Rangers and Waterside Karori. It was last used regularly for football in the mid 1990's when Wellington Olympic used it as their home ground for a season.

However it is not completely lost as a football ground, last season saw football reintroduced to the Basin Reserve in the form of junior games on Sunday mornings