A fire this morning (17 Feb) at the Invercargill Hockey grounds has seriously damaged the club's new turf and is now being treated as suspicious by Police.

Hockey Southland (HS) general manager Tracey McCall declined to comment, but referred the Southland App to the sport's facebook page.

The HS social media page said "It appears that rolls of new turf that were placed between two containers with the materials to lay our new turf were set alight this morning".

Police this afternoon confirmed that the fire was being treated as suspicious.

FENZ shift manager Simon Lyford said emergency services were alerted at 10.58am and responded with 2 appliances.

The fire was well established when they arrived at the Turnbull Thomson Park address, so a further 2 appliances were called.

Invercargill Hockey is in the middle of a major redevelopment, estimated at $2 million, to upgrade its playing surfaces and facilities.