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Rosedale Park
Drive through Rosedale Park
Type	Urban park
Location	2 Jack Hinton Drive, Rosedale, Auckland
Coordinates	36°44′47.3″S 174°42′36.1″E / 36.746472°S 174.710028°E / -36.746472; 174.710028
Operated by	Auckland Council
Website	Auckland Council

Rosedale Park, is a reserve and sports ground in the suburb of Rosedale in Auckland, New Zealand. It is the home ground of NRFL Northern Conference side Albany United, North Harbour Softball and North Harbour Hockey.

Rosedale park also has a playground, fitness equipment, picnic tables, and a 9-hole frisbee golf course.

History

As of 2022, Urban Solutions have started planning new pedestrian and cycling paths to encourage locals to walk while creating a safe environment for them to do so.

A five year project run by Te Hōnonga a Iwi is currently underway to restore 4000 square metres of Rosedale Park using bio-organic principles.

Hockey

In 1975, six hockey fields were built for the North Shore Women's Hockey Association. In 1988 an artificial sand turf was built at Rosedale Park North. North Shore City Council built a new hockey complex at Rosedale Park South from 1996-97. Two new water turfs were also constructed. This saw the North Harbour hockey clubs make the move to the new facility, giving up their leases on the grass fields. From 1998 to 2000, the pavilion was completed. A third artificial water turf was built in 2004-05 in the South part of the Park, making it the largest hockey centre in New Zealand.

In 2014, after more than two years of planning, $4 million of funding was granted along with a resource consent to upgrade the Rosedale Park facility, to make it the National Hockey Centre.

With upgrades to the State Highway 1 and State Highway 18 connection (the Northern Corridor Improvements), this forced North Harbour Hockey, Rosedale Pony Club and Harbour BMX to relocate. The new motorway needed part of the Hockey grounds for the new roading so North Harbour Hockey was relocated to Bush Road. This meant Harbour BMX were forced to move to their new location at Hooton Reserve, where the first international standard BMX track in New Zealand was built for $4.5Million, opening on 6 November 2018. The North Harbour Pony Club meanwhile merged with the Greenhithe, Rosedale and Whenuapai Pony Clubs to form the new Wainoni Park Pony Club. The new North Harbour Hockey Stadium was completed in 2019 as part of a $75 million project. This was opened by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and Sport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson cut the ribbon to open the new North Harbour Hockey stadium.

Softball

Whakaata Māori Stadium

The stadium on a matchday in 2022
Former names	North Harbour Softball Stadium (2013-2022)
Operator	North Harbour Softball Association
Capacity	500 (permanent) 3,500 (temporary)
Field size	Left field — 250 feet (76 m) Center field — 250 feet (76 m) Right field — 250 feet (76 m) Backstop — 25 feet (8 m)
Construction
Opened	2013; 11 years ago (2013)
Construction cost	NZD $2 million
Architect	Team Avery Architects
General contractor	Monarc (Precast Concrete Panels)

In 1976, North Harbour Softball made the move to Rosedale Park making it the largest area in New Zealand for softball with 20 grass diamonds.

In 1983 along with North Shore Women's Hockey clubrooms were built to help with the proliferation of both clubs. The single-storey building was officially opened in September that year by the then Mayor of Takapuna, Fred Thomas. In 1993, a second storey was built which included offices, toilets, a kitchen and a conference area, which was opened by the Mayor of North Shore City, Anne Hartley. In February 1995, the skin diamonds received flood lighting.

North Shore Women's Hockey combined with the men in 1997 and decided to move to the purpose built facilities at Rosedale South in 1997. This partnership between North Harbour Softball and North Harbour Hockey was subsequently dissolved.

A new partnership with Albany United Football Club was formed creating the Rosedale Park Sports Trust in April 1998. Two diamonds were forfeited to North Harbour Hockey in the late 1990s allowing them to create a sand hockey turf. This meant the total number of diamonds was decreased to 18 which are all still present today.

In 2013 North Harbour Softball and Softball New Zealand, hosted the Men's Softball World Championship. In preparation for the tournament a new 500 seat stadium, including realignment of diamond 2 and upgrading of both diamonds to a world-class standard and new scoreboard were built as part of a $2 million project. The clubroom was also upgraded in time for the 2013 event. In 2022, North Harbour again hosted the Men's World Softball Championship with 50 games being played at Rosedale Park across 2 diamonds over 9 days.

Gallery

• Pond and trees in Rosedale Park
• Path through lawn
• View of various trees
• Alexandra Stream
• Radiata pine and māpou

References

1. "Player Info". Albany United. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
2. "Rosedale Park". Auckland Council. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
3. "Unsworth to Rosedale Path". Auckland Council. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
4. "Rosedale Park Greenways". Urban Solutions. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
5. "Te Hōnonga a Iwi". Te Hōnonga a Iwi. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
6. "Honouring Mana Whenua as we celebrate Matariki". Ventia. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
7. "Te Hōnonga a Iwi – Restoring Rosedale Park". Business NH. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
8. "Hockey For North Harbour" (PDF). NZTA. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
9. "North Harbour Hockey Stadium". Pacific Environments Architects. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
10. "North Harbour BMX" (PDF). NZTA. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
11. "BMX and Harbour Hockey first clubs to start relocation to make way for motorway". Stuff. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
12. "Albany gains world class BMX facility". Our Auckland. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
13. "North Harbour BMX facility opens". Our Auckland. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
14. "About Us". Wainoni Park Pony Club. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
15. "New Zealand's leading international hockey facility opened on the North Shore". Our Auckland. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
16. "New Zealand's leading international hockey facility opens". Scoop. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
17. "The National Hockey Centre". Archipro. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
18. "Rosedale Stadium, Albany". Monarc. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
19. "History". North Harbour Softball. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
20. "ELE Stadium". Softball New Zealand. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
21. "New dates announced for WBSC Men's Softball World Cup 2022". WBSC. Retrieved 23 December 2022.

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• Sports venues in Auckland
• Softball venues in New Zealand
• Parks in Auckland