THE waiting game continues for Port Macquarie Hastings Hockey Association and the completion of its second playing field.
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Incorrect line marking is the latest issue forcing the association into a holding pattern.
One of the sidelines is rumoured to be 300 millimetres closer to the gutter than it should be.
It means the field currently does not meet national standards for state title events.
President Simon Thresher said they continued to search for a solution as to whether the field could still be used for local competition.
“There is the potential we could use it as it is, but we’re working with council to assess that risk just to work out if it’s an acceptable risk, or an unacceptable risk,” he said.
“It’s a bit disappointing because we hoped we’d get onto it early in the season and we’d be able to get all hockey back playing on a Saturday.
“Now it’s looking like it will be a bit later in the year – potentially towards the grand final end of the season – before we can use both fields.”
Thresher said it was possible the field would have to be ripped up and moved away from the gutter.
But such a solution would place further financial strain on all parties.
“The glue is very new so it will rip the underlay up and potentially take the asphalt with it which is a massive fix if we have to go down that path,” Thresher said.
“I don’t think any of us have the money to do that and that’s a worst-case scenario - we don’t want to rip it up.
“It’s got so much more implication than just ripping the green stuff up.”
One of the other frustrations for Thresher is the continued late finishes for matches of a weekend.
A second field would ensure the latest match would finish by 7pm on a Saturday.
Last weekend, the final competition game finished at 8.30pm on a Sunday night.
“It’s not ideal for anyone to finish that late, but it is what it is,” he said.
“We’ll get there eventually and it is a multi-million dollar complex that we’re eventually going to be proud to call ours, it would just be nice to have it sooner rather than later.”
Thresher said council and Polytan – the field manufacturers – would meet this week to discuss solutions.
“There’s a whole raft of things they can discuss when they come up here such as if it can be handed over and used in the interim as is or not,” he said.
