Harbour Rugby Club and Harbourside Football Club have agreed to share the facilities at Watson Park in Port Chalmers. The move is one step closer to creating a sport hub in the area in an effort to get more children involved. SAMANTHA MCPHERSON reports.
Harbourside Football Club now has a place to call its own.
The club, which has struggled in the past to find grounds and facilities in the area to cater for its growing player base, has agreed to share the facilities on alternate weekends with the Harbour Rugby Club at Watson Park.
It also meant the club would have a designated training ground once the Dunedin City Council installed a junior football pitch, Harbourside Football Club president Ian Landreth said.
''The only designated ground we had was St Leonards which we could only use two or three times a season because it was very boggy. This gives us an identifiable base . . . a place to store our gear and hold prizegiving,'' he said.
The agreement was part of future plans to create a community sporting hub at Watson Park, Harbour Rugby Club chairman Lance Spence said.
''Rugby is one sport of many down here. It's about breaking down those barriers between rugby and football. Those times have to change. We have the same children base . . . it just makes sense,'' he said.
There are eight home games a season that are played at Watson Park.
''It is a big facility to have empty all the time. There are not many facilities here. We want to start a table tennis club and we are looking at having indoor bowls on the carpeted area,'' he said.
Mr Spence said having a number of sports based at the rugby club would be ''beneficial'' to the community.
''I think it's great and it will work out well for everyone. If we can have a number of sports based here then it will be a big benefit to the community. This is the beginning of something bigger.''