Kiwitea Street

Kiwitea Street sits in the Sandringham quarter of Auckland, tucked away enough that most visiting supporters need a map the first time. Locals still call it Freyberg Field, a name that has outlasted whatever signage the ground has carried over the years, and the two names now sit side by side rather than one replacing the other.

The ground opened in 1965, laid out as a football pitch from the start rather than converted from some other use, which is not the usual story for grounds of that era. The pitch has stayed natural turf throughout, though it went through a re-lay in 1995 when the surface got a sand-carpet base to sort out drainage — the kind of unglamorous work that keeps a pitch playable through an Auckland winter without anyone noticing it happened.

At 3,500, the capacity keeps things modest and unpretentious, a ground built for football rather than for occasions.