Northland Events Centre Trust GM Carina de Graaf with Hora Hora Rugby Club reps inside one of the refurbished changing rooms.
Photo / Tania Whyte
Northland Events Centre Trust GM Carina de Graaf with Hora Hora Rugby Club reps inside one of the refurbished changing rooms.
Photo / Tania Whyte
Excitement is at fever pitch, newly refurbished gender-neutral facilities are ready and the ground is in top shape for this weekend's Pacific Four Series games in Whangārei.
The Black Ferns will take on the USA while Australia will play Canada in a double-header at the venue tomorrow afternoon ahead ofthe women's Rugby World Cup (RWC) starting in October.
Venues and Events Whangārei secured $110,000 of the $7.4 million of Sport NZ funding allocated to upgrade player facilities under the Accessible Facilities' Project at a number of stadiums and community grounds ahead of the women's RWC.
The training grounds at Hora Hora Rugby Union Football Club and Northland Rugby's new facility at Pohe Island are part of the project.
The refurbished gender-neutral changing room facilities at Northland Events Centre will be used for the first time by international women's teams tomorrow as the Pacific Four Series provides an opportunity for fans to get a glimpse of what is to come at the World Cup.
New and improved facilities include individual showers, privacy screens, cubicle toilets, baby change tables, accessible bathrooms and gender-neutral changing rooms for both players and officials.
In a first at the venue, a robot mower has been introduced to nibble away at the grass on the embankment, as a ride-on mower poses health and safety issues, especially during wet weather.
Northland Events Centre is ready to host the Black Ferns, Australia, Canada and the US this weekend.
Photo / Tania Whyte
Northland Events Centre Trust general manager Carina de Graaf said this legacy project signalled a time of whakarekereke tūturu (transformational change) and that purpose-built gender-neutral change rooms sent a strong message that every athlete was welcome to prepare, compete and change in the stadium.
Northland Rugby Union (NRU) chief executive Cameron Bell said the NRU's new home at Pohe island would provide leading-edge legacy standard facilities not only for the RWC but for the wider rugby community.
"While 2021 was another year of Covid challenge, it presented the opportunity for Northland Rugby to work in conjunction with Sport New Zealand to build a best-in-class rugby facility at Pohe Island to cater equally for the growth of our women's and men's games with six uniquely designed unisex and whanau changing rooms and facilities," Bell said.
"We are committed to growing a game that is inclusive and attractive to our whole community. Anyone coming to Northland Rugby's whare to train or play will feel like they are home."
The Women's Rugby World Cup 2021 - postponed last year because of Covid - will be hosted in Whangārei and Auckland between October 8 and November 12.
The robotic mower in action at the Northland Events Centre.
Photo / Supplied
The tournament will feature four double- and triple-header match days at Northland Events Centre throughout October, with the quarterfinals on October 29.
The first three matches will be played at the centre on October 9. The USA plays Italy, Japan plays Canada and Wales plays Scotland.
Australia vs Scotland, USA vs Japan and France vs England will be played on October 15 while the Wales vs Australia, Black Ferns vs Scotland and Fiji vs France games will he held on October 22.
State-of-the-art floodlights were installed at Semenoff Stadium last year under a $3.3m upgrade ahead of the 2021 NPC competition and the upcoming Rugby World Cup.
The new lights and towers are bright enough for high-definition television recording and broadcasting of domestic and international games.
The towers are 10m to 15m taller so the lights shine on the field rather than across it, which is better for broadcasting and residents nearby as it reduces light spill.
Tickets for the Pacific Four Series and the Women's RWC can be purchased through tickets.allblacks.com.
Prices start at $5 for children and $10 for adults.
