The submission below has been made by the Capital Football Federation (Capital Football) and outlines our views and that of the football community on the quality and cost of the football facilities provided by the Hutt City Council.

Capital Football’s mission is to provide a range of football-related activities that create a thriving football community that benefits all participants – players, officials, administrators, families, and supporters in the greater Wellington region.

We ask any members of the football community who would like to provide feedback or support to please comment on our Facebook post about the submission.

SUBMISSION

Capital Football is the governing body for football in the Greater Wellington region, including Wellington, Western Zone, Horowhenua-Kapiti, Hutt Valley and Wairarapa. In 2017, Capital Football had 12746 players, 2458 of which were from the Hutt Valley (excluding Upper Hutt) (see Appendix 1). We expect our player numbers to be similar for the 2018 playing season. Our Hutt Valley clubs include: Eastbourne AFC, Lower Hutt AFC, Naenae Soccer Club, Petone FC, Stokes Valley FC, Stop Out Sports Club, Upper Hutt City FC, and Wainuiomata AFC.

Capital Football is concerned about the quality and value of the services supplied in relation to the considerable cost of the football facilities provided by the Hutt City Council. This submission discusses our concerns in two sections: Part 1 explains the issues with the quality of the facilities, and Part 2 discusses our concerns with the costs of the future 10-year contract. 

Part 1 discusses the low quality of the facilities, particularly the poorly maintained grounds that have limited or no drainage. When the fields are closed, clubs are forced to play at other grounds in the region. The travel to and from other parks is an additional cost for players, and is a particular threat for players in lower socio-economic areas. It also disadvantages regional clubs who rely heavily on weekly income from selling food and drinks when hosting matches.

Part 2 discusses the cost of facilities provided under the current Downer contract. Given the low quality of the facilities, Capital Football is concerned about the predicted increases associated with the renegotiation of the 10-year contract. We are not willing to pass any increases on to the players, as this could negatively impact their ability to play football.

Part 1: Quality of facilities

Capital Football is concerned with the quality of the football facilities in the Hutt Valley region; it’s not that we want more facilities, it’s just that we want better facilities. These facilities include the grounds, changing facilities, and clubrooms. Our members consider there are enough facilities to support community football, but the current facilities are not maintained well enough and there has not been enough funding allocated or spent on upkeep.

Capital Football recognises the Council’s current plans for development and maintenance in the 2017-2018 Annual Plan of the Stokes Valley Community Hub ($1,055,000 in 2017-2018), Sportsville Wainuiomata ($300,000 in 2017-2018; $2,200,000 in 2018-2019; $2,300,000 in 2019-2020), and sportsground drainages upgrades ($60,000 in 2017-2018). We also understand that the Sportsville Petone project ($300,000 in 2017-2018) is no longer going ahead.  We consider that a focus mainly on sports hubs and a lack of sufficient funding being allocated to a proper maintenance (and minor upgrade) programme for other sporting fields is not a justifiable approach by the Council, nor does it serve the nearly 2500 members of the football community in the Hutt Valley or the sport community in general.

The lack of planned maintenance and capital expenditure (to replace aging facilities) means that the availability of the facilities is limited and impacted by the local weather much more than sportsfields provided by other local councils. By way of example, Appendix 2 shows the ground closures for the 2015 season in Hutt Valley. Limited maintenance work has been undertaken by the Council to improve the fields since 2015 and 2017 was a “very wet winter”, leading to “constant ground changes”^[1] These figures are indicative of the majority of seasons, and it is likely that these ground closure figures remain relevant.

Capital Football considers that the improvements need to focus on the ‘regional’ football fields, rather than investing in one central area of the Hutt Valley such as Fraser Park. It is worth noting that a high number of closures highlighted in Appendix 2 were at the regional fields in the Hutt Valley: Delaney Park (Stokes Valley), Naenae Park, and Richard Prouse (Wainuiomata). Capital Football requests the Council considers investing in the maintenance and upkeep of all of the football fields in the region, rather than just favouring Fraser Park Sportsville as the “prime delivery agent”.²

There are a number of flow-on effects from the low-quality football fields in the Hutt Valley. As there is inadequate drainage in many of the Hutt Valley fields, the number of ground closures is high.  This requires teams to travel away from their home or club suburbs to other fields, such as Fraser Park Sportsville, when the weather is bad. While the review of community facilities in Lower Hutt and consultation favoured hubbing the sports grounds due to convenience of one location, it is not “convenient” for the players who do not live close to these hubs.^[2] This additional travel increases the cost for the players, which is of particular concern in low-income, “high deprivation communities” like Stokes Valley, Wainuiomata and Naenae.³ Being unable to play closer-to-home also removes the positive impact that football has on contributing to healthy, vibrant communities throughout the entire Hutt Valley region, not just the Sportsville hubs.

Secondly, when games move away from club suburbs, the clubs miss out on the much-needed revenue from the local sale of food and drinks to match spectators and players. This has a negative effect on the long-term viability of these regional clubs as they rely heavily on this weekly income from hosting matches to support their sporting and community activities. For example, Naenae Football Club is struggling to be viable because the club misses out on revenue when the games are regularly moved to other areas in the Hutt Valley with better (or better maintained) facilities.

Capital Football considers that investing in the football facilities in the Hutt Valley region aligns with the Council’s Leisure and Wellbeing Strategy 2012-2032. The Leisure and Wellbeing Strategy “is focused on our people – in particular their cultural, physical, and educational wellbeing”.^[3] It is well known that playing a team sport is a great way for people to improve their health and wellbeing, feel part of a community, and make friends. The Hutt City Council states that they will achieve their leisure and wellbeing goals by: “delivering the best core local government services in New Zealand in the way of… physical recreation” and “renewing and revitalising Hutt City’s network of community facilities”.³ Improving the quality of Council’s football facilities will achieve their goal to provide world-class facilities and have a positive impact on the wellbeing of all Hutt Valley residents, particularly those in high deprivation areas.3 Furthermore, Capital Football considers that the views expressed in this submission  on the quality of the football facilities will help the Council correctly assess and measure the number of “sport fields meeting the standard agreed sports codes (as measured by the number of complaints received)” as outlined in the 2017-2018 Annual Plan.2

Part 2: Cost of facilities

Capital Football is concerned about the potential for costs to increase with the new 10-year maintenance contract currently held by Downers. We understand that the new contract will result in increased costs for fields, turfs and maintenance. There are more people playing football in Wellington than any other sport, so there is demand for more grounds and artificial turfs. However, Capital Football pays significantly more than other sports codes. In 2017 Capital Football paid $423,006 (excluding GST) for ground charges and futsal venue hire to the various councils, including $39,639 to the Hutt City Council (Appendix 3). It is our understanding that football pays more than rugby and cricket combined in ground charges (natural and artificial) and indoor venue hire. We believe the Council provides limited value for money (via their contractor Downers) considering the low quality of the facilities discussed in Part 1; therefore, Capital Football does not see a valid reason for any increase in cost.

We would like the Council to understand that many of the Capital Football members come from lower socio-economic areas like Naenae, Stokes Valley and Wainuiomata. Any increase in the cost of football will impact on the Council’s ability to meet its Leisure and Wellbeing Strategy goal of improving the health and wellbeing of its citizens, particularly of those from “high deprivation communities”.3 We are concerned that the predicted rise in costs from any new contract will be passed onto our players, making the game increasingly unaffordable for the majority of the community in the Council’s area.

RECOMMENDATIONS

In summary, Part 1 and Part 2 of our submission highlight that Capital Football does not see enough value for money regarding the quality and cost of the football facilities provided by the Council. Taking into consideration the plans outlined in the Hutt City Council’s 2017-2018 Annual Plan, it is recommended that the Council:

1) Invests more money into getting two current fields upgraded to sand carpet fields.

2) Improves the maintenance and upkeep of the Hutt Valley football facilities (drainages, clubrooms, changing rooms), particularly in the regional areas like Stokes Valley, Naenae and Wainuiomata.

3) Renegotiates the current cost levels for the Hutt Valley region under the existing Downers contract, unless higher quality services are delivered.

If the facilities are not improved as part of the Council’s planned projects, Capital Football recommends that the Council:

4) Decreases the costs associated with football in the Hutt Valley region due to limited value for money. 

Capital Football believes that these recommendations will achieve the Council’s Leisure and Wellbeing Strategy sustainability principle, which “will ensure our services, programmes and facilities meet current needs, adapt to future needs of communities, and are good-quality and cost-effective”.³