Park Island | Napier City Council (original) (raw)

Football, cricket, rugby, netball, hockey, archery and dog agility

Walking track at Park Island. Park Island is Napier's largest sports reserve and is the home of the Napier Rovers Football Club, Hawke's Bay United, Napier Old Boys' Marists Rugby Club (with its affiliated clubs of Old Boys' Marist Cricket, Marist Netball, Marist Soccer and Marist Softball) and the Hawke's Bay Hockey Association.

Touch Rugby Fields (8)
Soccer Fields on Request
Senior Cricket Wickets (4)
Junior Cricket Wickets (11)
Napier City Rovers Main Field
Napier City Rovers Practice Fields (2)
Archery Range
Dog Agility

The grounds are divided into areas identified with specific sports or groups of sports. Screened grounds on the park leased to sports organisations for their sole use are Tremain Field (rugby), Napier City Rovers (football) and the Hawke's Bay Hockey Association (hockey), which has two artificial playing fields with a third approved and currently in planning. The grass surfaces provide a consistently high level of playability and availability.

Park Island also contains Shrimpton Field, which is used for football in winter and cricket in summer, and Bond Field, which has both rugby and football pitches in the winter. These facilities regularly host major football tournaments at inter-school, age groups and inter-federation level.

There is also an archery ground between the two cemeteries and a floodlit training ground south of the Napier City Rovers ground. The park area is used for cross country running, principally at school level.

Large changing room blocks with full shower and toilet facilities are provided on Shrimpton Field and at the screened grounds.

The active sports areas are flanked by a fitness trail and a walkway network that takes in the former "islands".

Clyde Jeffery Drive provides good access to the park, and extensive car parks serve Tremain and Shrimpton Fields and the Napier City Rovers and Hawke's Bay Hockey facilities.

Council's long-term aim is to develop the Park Island reserve as a top-class facility for a wide range of sports. Paddocks between the Taipo Stream and Oak Road, an area south of Bond Field and an area north of the existing grounds and cemetery hills are in planning for further development. For more information, visit - Park Island Sports Hub.

History

As part of the overall plan for the city's future recreation, the Council set aside some 68 hectares of rural land on Napier's western boundary in 1981. The concept was for a comprehensive recreation facility that would provide for a wide range of sports and recreational activities.

Previously, the former Hawke's Bay Hospital Board and the former Hawke's Bay Harbour Board farmed the land.

Included in the land purchased from the hospital board was Park Island, which the Council has developed as Western Hills Cemetery. In 1910, the Napier Borough Council developed another prominent hill as the Park Island Cemetery. Both lie within the confines of the park.

Before the 1931 earthquake uplifted the land, the park's low-lying areas were mudflats and tidal inlets of the Ahuriri Lagoon.

Park Island images

Park Island Summer Field Layout

Clyde Jeffery Drive, Tamatea West. Standard summer field layout for Park Island.

Park Island Winter Field Layout

Clyde Jeffery Drive, Tamatea West. Standard winter field layout for Park Island.

Disclaimers and Copyright
While every endeavour has been taken by the Napier City Council to ensure that the information on this website is accurate and up to date, Napier City Council shall not be liable for any loss suffered through the use, directly or indirectly, of information on this website. Information contained has been assembled in good faith. Some of the information available in this site is from the New Zealand Public domain and supplied by relevant government agencies. Napier City Council cannot accept any liability for its accuracy or content. Portions of the information and material on this site, including data, pages, documents, online graphics and images are protected by copyright, unless specifically notified to the contrary. Externally sourced information or material is copyright to the respective provider.