Waihī sports clubs thrown a lifeline

Friday, 2 May 2025

Sports clubs left in the lurch after members of a trust running a Waihī sports ground revamp resigned have been thrown a lifeline by their district council.

Clubs were complaining they were losing members, and the capacity to hold tournaments, after the Morgan Park redevelopment stalled and members of the Sport n Action Waihī Charitable Trust all resigned late last year.

The trust had fallen foul of the clubs, but a new trust board was appointed earlier this year, and at a meeting of the Hauraki District Council on Wednesday, almost $500,000 was reallocated to the upgrade.

Sport n Action Waihī Charitable Trust was set up almost 20 years ago and had finished several large projects, council documents say, but “lost the support of several of the stakeholder groups” who said progress was far too slow.

The whole trust board resigned in late 2024, and even though a new board was appointed in February 2025, it didn’t have enough money for priority projects at the top of sports groups’ wish lists.

“The incomplete projects are having dire consequences on the affected clubs,” a council report states.

“Concerns expressed … include loss of members, unable to hold tournaments, loss of club facilities, inability to attract new members. Stakeholders are very frustrated with the progress.”

Council documents point to other problems at the trust, including “poor financial management and reporting”, not having enough experienced trustees, and being unable to “fulfil its obligations under the agreements with council”.

The option recommended to Hauraki District Council is to take back control of services at the park, and its buildings.

Councillors were also asked to consider reallocating $495,000 intended to be used on new sports fields, so it can be used to speed up a building revamp for football changing rooms.

Staff recommended this option, noting there would be a downside for the football community, leaving them with one full-size field and a practice field, instead of two full-size fields.

So far the Morgan Park development has had $2.8m in funding (excluding GST) - $1.4m of that from the council, with the rest coming from funding grants, the agenda states.

New netball and tennis courts have been built, fenced and lit, and an old netball pavilion has been moved and turned into a sport hub - on a space that used to be football fields.

The Waihī Bowls building has been relocated to become an extension of the hub but “needs extensive reinstatement work before the public can use it”, and artificial greens have been installed for Waihī Bowls but shelters are still to come.

Other projects that remain a priority include football fields, lighting and a car park.

Mayor Toby Adams said no additional funding was required, and he was now chairperson of the trust after being invited to take the reins by the new board.

“I'm driving it to get some outcomes for them. They have been sitting there and waiting for a very long time.

“Everyone's had to make a couple of compromises, but it means that everyone will have something, but they're probably not as happy as they could be.

“If we had all the money, we would have been able to do a heck of a lot more … so we’re rationalising the available funds that we had and reallocating them to some different projects so that everyone's getting a little bit.”

In terms of the football (soccer) club, they will get full sized field and be able to play right next to their club rooms.

He said the former trust “had their reasons for resigning as trustees”, and there was a lot of unfinished business.

“We just wanted to make sure it was going to get done. So that's why we put a new trust together so they could at least find a way forward, whether it was to disestablish, or to bring in new people and carry on.

“But at the moment our focus is on ensuring that everyone gets a little bit.”