Kiwitea Street - History

History

Initially, the Central club played their home games at either the Auckland Domain or the Oakley Ground in Waterview. A move to a permanent home site came in 1965, when Freyberg Field, situated on the borders of the suburbs of Sandringham and Mount Albert in Kiwitea Street, was made available for use as a football pitch, in spite of it being just forty-five metres wide.

The next quarter of a century saw Central increase the width of the pitch on three occasions, each time at club members' personal expense. The last such exercise took place in the late 1980s. After buying up adjoining properties, a massive timber retaining wall was erected, and 5000m3 of earth was removed.

However, only six first-team games could be played at Kiwitea Street in 1992, due to its poor condition.

Following consultations with the Auckland City Council and the New Zealand Turf Culture Institute, a bold plan was implemented to develop an all-weather, sand carpeted pitch at Central – similar to those at Eden Park and the MCG – over a three-year period. The final result saw Kiwitea Street boasting the finest football-playing surface in the country by 1995.

In addition to these extensive works the club has also undertaken further major developments at the ground including:

1. The construction of a covered grandstand in 2004;
2. Major additions to the clubrooms to incorporate a new boardroom, administration office, corporate hospitality wing and dedicated medical and physiotherapy room (2004–2007);
3. Further sand-slitting, sand-carpeting and a full resurfacing of the pitch in 2007.

Kiwitea Street, home of both Central United FC and Auckland City FC is now considered arguably the best football ground in the country - a fitting venue for two of the most successful clubs in the history of NZ Football and a source of great pride for Auckland’s Croatian community.