Otago University Archery Club president Charlie Boocock-Yee said they started fielding a constant stream of concerns from people in the changing rooms, wondering if an arrow would eventually come flying through the wall.
That was what prompted the club to speed up the renewal of its archery wall.
‘‘There was no danger of an arrow going through the wall because there was foundational concrete for the building there.
‘‘But we had quite a few complaints, because behind that shooting wall was actually the female bathroom.
‘‘They could hear thudding on the wall, and for them, it was a little disconcerting.
‘‘People were going, ‘I thought I was going to get shot while I was on the toilet’’’.
He said the wall was severely dilapidated.
‘‘Shot at with too many arrows.
‘‘It had just become an extreme safety hazard because there was no structural support on the wall and the Gib board came down quite a lot.
‘‘When we actually took the archery wall down, there was significant damage to the concrete, so the arrows had just shredded through the shooting wall over the years, and had damaged the wood and the concrete that was actually behind it, which we didn’t realise until we took it down.
‘‘It was really in disarray, so we seriously needed to get something done in the long term, which had always been put off.’’
After three years of fundraising and grant applications, $6000 was raised and the wall has now been replaced with a multi-layered softboard.
Usually, softboard is used as thermal and sound insulation, or underlay for various types of office partitions, but it is also ideal for an archery wall when stacked.
And to give piece of mind, the wooden and concrete structures behind it have been repaired.
Mr Boocock-Yee said its completion would allow the club to get on with its core job of getting students to give archery a go, in a safe space, with no judgement.
Abilities ranged from learners to a member who used to compete in regional and national competitions in Hong Kong.
He said the new wall had been completed in time for the club to run its second New Zealand Archery Tertiary Competition later this year.
It would allow university students from around the country to compete at a national level.
He hoped the replacement wall would last another decade, at least, he said.
