A new $950,000 hockey turf will be rolled out at Saxton Field this week having been delayed as a result of wet weather.
The new water-based turf, which will replace the old sand turf, is jointly funded by Nelson City Council, Tasman District Council and Hockey Nelson.
It is being installed by Downer and is now likely to be ready next month, well into the current hockey season.
Hockey Nelson president Diane Proudfoot says the initial completion date did factor in delays due to the weather and the official opening date could be July 6.
“We’re looking at the first weekend of July hopefully.”
She says it has been “pretty difficult” to juggle playing all grades and matches on just one turf in the meantime, with some teams having to play games until 9:30pm on Thursday and Friday nights.
“Which is pretty late. We’ve had to keep things pretty tight and we’ve managed to accommodate it and our players are supportive because they can see something happening. We know it’s not like this forever.”
The late night games will stop once the second turf is installed. The turf is being supplied by Aucklandbased company Tiger Turf.
