Hockey has a new home in New Zealand's capital city Auckland, thanks to a $2.5 million investment into the National Hockey Centre on North Harbour's Rosedale Park.
The new centre will be truly inclusive. It will host the 2017 FIH Women’s World League Final, as well as providing a home for elite, national and club players. With both the men's and women's teams hoping to do well at the forthcoming Rabobank Hockey World Cup, this is yet another sign that hockey continues to be a growing sport in New Zealand.
Hockey New Zealand’s chief executive Malcolm Harris called the investment a "huge boost for hockey" and added that the benefit to hockey will be three-fold – a future-proofed community facility, a home for hockey’s high performance programme and a venue that will allow New Zealand to attract more world class hockey events.
The stadium has not been built from scratch, the development has used existing facilities, but given them an upgrade which includes more spectator space, improved facilities and an office base for the high performance coaching team. The North Harbour area has the country’s largest year-round player base, with more than 4,300 registered winter members and close to 3,000 registered summer members competing in their competitions. 11 clubs are already based at the centre.
The National Hockey Centre is also close to High Performance Sport New Zealand at the Millennium Institute of Sport and Health, an important factor for the elite coaching staff. Hockey New Zealand is working with North Harbour, Counties Manukau and Auckland Hockey associations to put together a 10 year plan for hockey facilities in the Auckland region, and development of a National Hockey Centre is one part of that long term strategy.
