User:ChookMan/sandbox/Manukau Sports Bowl

Manukau Sports Bowl is a sports park located in Clover Park, Auckland, New Zealand, in the Ōtara-Papatoetoe Local Board. The park covers 8.9 ha of land

It contains New Zealand's only standalone greyhound racing track, and the ASB Polyfest has been hosted at this park annually since 1996.

Development
Before construction, the site was farmland between Papatoetoe and Manurewa. In the 1950s, the Southern Motorway finished construction and sat adjacent to the area; along with the motorway, Orlando Drive (now part of Te Irirangi Drive) and Boundary Road set the perimeter of the land. Manukau City Council acquired the grounds in the 1960s. The park was known as 'Boundary Road Reserve', which included a children's playground, a scout den, and a sports field.

The park would gain the name 'Manukau Sports Bowl' in 1989, after the completion of the Velodrome, opened on 16 September 1989, as well as the Auckland Greyhound Racing Club's greyhound racing track, which first came into use on 18 December 1989, two years after construction commenced in 1987.

In June 1993, the new Manukau Tennis Complex opened on the Manukau Sports Bowl site, which featured a clubhouse and 16 all-weather courts, developed by Manukau City Council and Auckland Tennis, with council funding $700,000 for the project.

In 1996 the ASB Polyfest changed venues from Sir Edmund Hillary Collegiate to Manukau Sports Bowl. This offered space to establish stage areas for different cultures.

In 2022, the Auckland Council released draft plans to upgrade the park for community consultation. The plan involves options of an indoor aquatic centre, a covered cycling velodrome and a synthetic athletics track.

Manukau Velodrome
In 1987 the Commonwealth Games Organisation commissioned a report to provide a Velodrome for the Auckland Region to host the 1990 Commonwealth Games Cycling events. The Manukau City Council eventually took on these requests. At the same time, many other local authorities disapproved of the development due to significant capital costs and cycling sports being unpopular at the time. The velodrome cost was estimated to be NZD 4,349,000 and split between the Council (25%), The Games Enhancement Fund (25%) and the rest to Auckland Regional Authority. The construction of the velodrome specified a 285-meter concrete oval sprayed with high-pressure air on 40-degree banked turns and a 500-seat grandstand with accommodation provided below it, four 35-meter light poles constructed to provide enough illumination for television coverage of the Commonwealth Games and future events.

The Manukau Velodrome officially opened on 16 September 1989, in time for the forthcoming XIV Commonwealth Games.

In 2003, the velodrome was utilised as a part of the course and finishing venue for the New Zealand leg of the FIA World Rally Championship.