A very exciting update for community stadium – we had the honour of taking part in a ceremony marking the breaking of the first ground & blessing of the site for the upcoming Open Country Stadium build in Matamata. Local iwi proudly led a karakia and ceremony to bless the site. “The rain is a blessing” Matua Mokoro Gillett said before breaking the ground and turning the first sod underneath the grey sky.
Resource consent for the stadium was granted in September this year and the groundworks will start next week. Fencing will be going up ahead of the main build, which is expected to be finished by early 2026. There were times when the new stadium build looked like it wasn’t going to happen at all. “There have been numerous ups and downs,” said Bruce Magan, who kick-started this initiative several years ago.
After steady support from our community, our valued sponsors, local Matamata businesses and residents; Sport Waikato, Ministry of Education, and Matamata-Piako District Council came on board to get this project over the line. “This has been such a long time coming” said Mayor Adrienne. Our new naming sponsors, Open Country were also in attendance and we are thrilled to have the name signed off & to start using formally, “Open Country Stadium”.
Matthew Cooper, CEO of Sport Waikato summed it up well, “This is a story of collaboration and partnership, and the community has shown great resilience.”
Matamata Piako District Council have now set up a dedicated site within the MPDC web pages, or sign up to their mailing lists – by selecting ‘Matamata Indoor Stadium’ under ‘Projects’.
Once again, a huge thank you to everyone who has had a hand in helping us get this far. We still have some funds to raise through donations, but work will commence next week & this is an incredible moment to celebrate in Matamata’s history.