Athletes have genuine cause for grievance over the state of the all-weather track and arena at the Regional Sports Park after the hugely-successful Te Matatini kapa haka festival just under a fortnight ago.
But their Hastings club does not point the finger at Te Matatini, and is between a rock and a hard place avoiding any inference that it does, when others might be all too quick to do so for all the wrong reasons.
The club supported Te Matatini all the way, and recognises it was a fantastic event in all respects.
The reality is the council-owned, trust-run arena was not suitable for an event where its synthetic track, parts sometimes off-limits even to athletes to avoid excessive wear and tear, would be invaded by vehicles and thousands of people.
Once signed - was there some coercion to get a flagship event to raise park profile when hosts had other sites in mind? - damage was unavoidable.