{"id":521701,"date":"2026-03-06T04:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T04:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521701\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T04:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T04:04:09","slug":"more-use-for-rugby-park-as-council-investigates-stadiums-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521701\/","title":{"rendered":"More use for Rugby Park as council investigates stadium\u2019s future"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Southland Rugby League Development Officer Dominic Vercoe at Rugby Park in Invercargill.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Invercargill\u2019s Rugby Park is embracing a different set of rules this month, as the traditional home of rugby union plays host to Southland Rugby League\u2019s summer competitions.<\/p>\n

More than 30 teams have been taking part in the six-week rugby league competitions, which kicked off in February.<\/p>\n

Southland Rugby League Development Officer Dominic Vercoe said it was the first time the competitions had been held at Rugby Park, and it was exciting to bring the game into a larger, more central venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a nice change to have the competition here, and it helps give the sport more visibility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cLeague has been steadily growing in popularity in Invercargill and Southland, and there\u2019s a passionate community behind it.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of our younger players are trying out new skills and playing in stadium conditions for the first time, which is a big highlight for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe warmer weather is a benefit, too. It\u2019s more enjoyable for both players and spectators,\u201d Vercoe said about the summer competitions.<\/p>\n

Invercargill City Council Manager Venues and Events Jason Wade said it was great to see Rugby Park utilised for a wider variety of activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur teams have done an amazing job in the last couple of years at building up the resilience of the turf,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve put a lot of work into improving drainage and promoting root growth, which allows a wider range of events to take place on the field without causing damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said welcoming rugby league to the field was the start of a new chapter for the venue, as the council prepared to investigate the stadium\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

The council\u2019s Community and Regulatory Committee recommended last month to consult on the future of Rugby Park in the Long-term Plan 2027-2037, with a public consultation period in March 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a valuable community asset \u2013 not just in the winter rugby season \u2013 and it has so much potential as an active, multi-purpose venue for our city,\u201d Wade said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope to see more events taking full advantage of the space at Rugby Park across the entire year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Southland Rugby League summer competition games are being held weekly at Rugby Park until Saturday, March 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Southland Rugby League Development Officer Dominic Vercoe at Rugby Park in Invercargill. Invercargill\u2019s Rugby Park is embracing a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":["post-521701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}