Media Release 22 March 2004

Manukau Parks Tops In Turf

Manukau City Council Parks have won three categories in the 2003/4 Best Sportsfield Competition run by the Sportsfield Forum of New Zealand Inc. and New Zealand Sports Turf Institute.

The bi-annual competition, open to local authorities in the Auckland Region, has six categories for winter sportsfields:

" best soil field: rugby, rugby league, soccer
" best sand field: rugby, rugby league and soccer.

Manukau Parks won:

" Soil Field Rugby Union Category with East Tamaki Domain Number 1 field
" Soil Field Rugby League Category with Ngati Otara Park Number 1 field
" Soil Field Soccer Category with Walter Massey Park Number 1 field.

The competition is intended to encourage benchmarking and best practice in the most cost-effective provision of sportsfields. A win is based on the combined scores for field presentation, use and cost.

Manukau City Council's Manager of Parks, Dr Digby Whyte is delighted with the win. "The win is a tribute to the expertise of our Parks staff working with our sports park contractors Excell Corporation."

Manukau Parks and Excell jointly pioneered the introduction of coring and brushing in compost to improve field drainage, turf health and use, reducing the downtime required for sportsfield renovation.

The success of this method has seen most councils in the Auckland Region and some North Island local authorities adopt it. Turf supplier Perry Aggregates now sell this special compost mix nationwide under the label 'Manukau Blend'.

One of the key goals in Making Connections, Council's Parks Strategy is to be a leader in sports provision. "This win recognises that Manukau is a leader in the provision of high quality, multi-use facilities and surfaces in a cost effective manner", says Dr Whyte.

ENDS

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>