The Dunedin City Council insists it does not close sports grounds for the fun of it and the fields are in a particularly delicate state at present.
The council closed the sports fields in the city yesterday, forcing teams training for games to either move indoors, carry out different trainings or call off training altogether.
It is relatively common for grounds to be closed during winter with the wet weather last year leading to grounds being closed for many days.
Council contracts manager Gareth Jones said the council did not simply look out the window, see it was raining and close the grounds.
He said this was a ''sensitive time'' of the year for sports fields as the council looked forward to the winter months.
''We have done our spring renovation and we are now in the autumn renovation and the grounds are at a stage where we need to have them right going into winter.
''We are at a sensitive time and need to be careful,'' he said.
''We are planning so they can be in the best condition for the coming months. Dunedin weather is pretty unpredictable over the winter so we want the grounds to be the best going into it.''
He said heavy rain was forecast for yesterday afternoon and it had already rained in the morning so the best option was to close grounds.
The grounds had already been closed for a day earlier this month, as again the council was looking more long-term. The grounds were in good condition but the council had to take a long-term view.
The council worked in with sports codes over closures of sports fields and said it did not just take a guess when to close the grounds. The council looked at the forecast and the condition of the grounds before it made a decision.
At the Otago Rugby Football Union annual meeting last night, community rugby manager Richard Perkins said, in answer to a query about ground closures, he was looking to have a meeting with the council.
