St Leonards' Northern Hockey Centre hit by lighting issues

The lights failed in the 16^th minute of the Greater Northern League women's match between Tamar Churinga and Queechy Penguins - with play drawn to a halt at 4-0.

The issue reoccurred on Sunday and forced Monday night's under-19s' fixtures to be cancelled, with a Facebook post by Tamar Churinga women's team manager Alison Roberts gaining plenty of attention.

Her brother, Stuart, who coaches the side, explained the decision to call the game off, with lighting issues becoming "a common problem".

"We knew that it was going to be anywhere between 15 minutes and half an hour before the lights get up and running again," he said.

"It was already a cold day and both Nic Duffy [Queechy coach] and myself, as well as the two team managers, came to a mutual decision as there was no use waiting around with players potentially getting cold and then coming back to match speed and potentially causing themselves injury - that was our biggest concern."

Hockey Tasmania chair Glenn Lucas said the association was investigating the cause of the issue.

"The association is receiving information about the cause and a possible solution and will examine what funding may be available to address the issue as soon as practical," he said.

"Once that work is done, we will communicate what that solution looks like to the Northern Tasmanian hockey community.

"Longer term, Hockey Tasmania is in ongoing discussions with the Launceston City Council regarding funding for the lighting infrastructure and more broadly turf replacement."

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The condition of the St Leonards venue resulted in the June Long Weekend Regional Challenge being moved to Hobart earlier this season.

Upgrading the changerooms, first-aid room and seating options were identified as priorities by Hockey Tasmania chief executive Damian Smith in April while accessibility, shelter and canteen facilities were also mentioned on social media as areas for improvement.

Northern Competitions Committee convenor Wayne Ottaway described the lighting issue as "extremely frustrating".

"It's a problem because it's almost getting to the stage of do you schedule the night matches because there's a chance that they're either going to be shortened or abandoned?" he said.

He said money had been spent on trying to fix "the ongoing issue".

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"I think it's just the ageing infrastructure there. Obviously the ultimate solution is to replace them with modern LED lights as the towers are fine, it's just the old-fashioned technology we had and its system that probably reached its use-by date probably a decade ago, I suspect."

Funding for turf replacement on pitch two has been secured, which will take place during the off-season.

However, securing funding for the infrastructure has not been as easy, with the change of federal government affecting a planned upgrade of more than $1 million.

City of Launceston Council have been made aware of the issue and have reached out to Hockey Tasmania to better understand the situation.

"At this stage, we believe that the weekend's adverse weather conditions were the likely explanation but we will continue to investigate these issue," City of Launceston Mayor, Matthew Garwood, said.

"City of Launceston chief executive Michael Stretton recently met on-site with representatives from Hockey Tasmania to understand the challenges they face and Council will continue to engage with the organisation and other users around what future improvements to the facility are required moving forward, which includes improved lighting."

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