Logan Park turf wins Fifa award
New Zealand Football and Southern Football have earned a silver award at the inaugural Fifa Forward Awards for member associations in Oceania in recognition of the work done to establish the facilities .
Southern Football chief executive Dougal McGowan said it was an incredible honour for all the work done over the years.
The turf was initially opened in 2019, but the idea to upgrade the turf was spoken about in 2012, Mr McGowan said.
"There was the Fifa Forward money available for the project, which provided the base funding that allowed others to jump on board and support us."
The project team eventually raised about $3 million.
"That's without the calculation of people's time and energy and boards and stuff like that.
"So it was a really big project, but one that involved large numbers of the community, the university, the polytech funders, other sports codes.
"It was really an example of how partnership can make things happen for the community."
The development delivered two all-weather artificial football pitches and a cricket wicket.
The initial plan was for one football pitch, but the project expanded to two as consultation and development progressed, Mr McGowan said.
"The hurdles are always about trying to make sure that people understand what's happening in a timely fashion and to see the benefits of that.
"But I think right now the benefits are very plain to see for everyone — it's a massively used facility.
"It's used most of the day all year round, and it has a variety of uses, both community and sports. So it's a fantastic venue and one which the city and the sporting community should be proud of."
The introduction of the turfs increased accessibility to sport across a far wider range.
"We all saw it over the weekend, when we had that astonishing downpour of rain — people were still able to use the artificial turfs and participate in sports.
"These turfs are expensive, but what they give back to the community is amazing."
New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell congratulated Southern Football on its achievement, hard work and long-term vision to support the game in Dunedin.
"Access to top-class facilities is a challenge across the game in Aotearoa, so it's important to recognise when progress is made, and that's exactly what Fifa has done with this award."
matthew.littlewood@odt.co.nz
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