Sewage link to rugby poisoning

Rifles operations manager Derek Rope said the drain had overflowed before but there had been no problems. Picture / Martin Sykes

Two rugby players were treated in hospital for blood poisoning and several others developed infections after playing on an Auckland club field contaminated with what was believed to be sewage.

The board of College Rifles met yesterday to discuss the incident three weekends ago, and decided that if the drain overflowed sewage again all play on the field would be stopped.

The Remuera field was inspected yesterday by Public Health but no contamination was found.

A player from Varsity Legends, part of Auckland University Rugby Football Club, grazed his knee while playing the College Rifles Raiders on June 25 was admitted to hospital with blood poisoning.

He had continued to play the following week but his knee swelled up and became increasingly painful.

Varsity Legends coach Mitch Canning said the player, who did not want to be named, woke up in "a hell of a lot of pain" the next Sunday morning and went to hospital.

"He was in pretty bad shape and ended up spending a couple of days in hospital on an IV drip."

Mr Canning believed the player had suffered a blood infection from playing on the ground. "It's the first time I've seen people getting poisoned on the football field.

"A guy from the Raiders went to hospital straight after the game. He had a cut on his face and has had a couple of trips to the hospital. I don't believe he's back playing yet."

The Varsity fullback was released from hospital on Tuesday but was not back at work until last Thursday, Mr Canning said.

Mr Canning said the state of the ground was not the club's fault.

"It was more a reflection of the weather. In the four years or so I've never seen torrential rain like that.

"You couldn't really see the sewage but you could see quite a lot of flooding coming off the park and water cascading on the road.

" ... The jerseys and gear smelled pretty bad afterwards."

The drain being blamed is actually a swift-flowing creek on the northern side of the fields just a few metres from the goalposts. A large pipe drains into it and the water eventually ends up in Orakei Basin.

Rifles operations manager Derek Rope said it had overflowed before but there had been no problems.

"We can't say it was sewage but it was definitely something that wasn't good for you," he said.

The overflow problem happened about once a year. On June 25 it coincided with a match day when four games were played.

"It went over the top for a very brief period of time. Open sores got infected," Mr Rope said.

However, players - aged in their 20s - were treated with antiseptic or antibiotics by their doctors and recovered quickly.

"It was one of those freak things." said Mr Rope. "There has been nothing since or prior."

"The open drain, I believe, is our responsibility. We would assume it is designed for stormwater but evidently contamination got in."

Auckland medical officer of public health Dr Virginia Hope inspected the grounds yesterday but could find no evidence of sewage.

She was told by staff at the rugby club they didn't know who the players were who reported getting ill or how many of them there were.

She said illness caused by contaminated ground wasn't strictly a notifiable disease but GPs would likely have told public health if they thought people had caught gastro-enteritis from contamination.

Board member John McKeaney said it was yet to decide how it was going to tackle the situation. He said the drain couldn't be screened off as "water goes through fences".

Auckland City Council development manager John Duthie said the council was trying to contact the club last night to see if there was an ongoing problem.

Sewage danger

Contact with raw human sewage could put people at risk of:

* Stomach infections from bugs including norovirus, salmonella, campylobacter, typhoid and shigella.

* Skin infections from staphylococcus aureus.

* Liver inflammation from hepatitis A or B.

* Blood poisoning, rarely, following stomach or skin infections. Dependent on the immune system and the dose of bugs.