Standing our ground
The loss of Yarrow Stadium’s East Stand is a huge disruption to Taranaki’s rugby season – but there’s not much to do except push through.
The East Stand cuts a rather forlorn figure these days, standing empty in New Plymouth’s Yarrow Stadium.
But only six months ago the heart of the stadium was buzzing as Taranaki defended the Ranfurly Shield against the Manawatu¯ Turbos.
Now no one knows when or if the stand will return to its former glory as its future remains up in the air.
The main stand was vacated in November 2017 after an independent engineering company told the New Plymouth District Council, the operators of the site, that earthquake strengthening work was needed. That meant the loss of Taranaki Rugby’s training base and gym, changing facilities, the recently-refurbished Legends’ Lounge hospitality area and more than 3000 covered seats.
‘‘It’s a massive disruption,’’ TRFU chief executive Jeremy Parkinson says.
‘‘It’s going to create some big demands for covered seating because all of a sudden we’ve gone from eight-and-a-half thousand seats to 5000 covered seats.’’
The union has already spoken with season ticket holders, sponsors and principal promoters about the loss of facilities.
It has also moved its training gear into Pukekura Raceway and is hoping to have temporary team changing facilities constructed at the stadium before the Mitre 10 Cup begins. For hospitality, it is looking at sideline marquees, the suites in the West Stand and talking to Star Gym about using its space.
There is also discussion around broadcasting from the East Stand towards the West Stand, probably using scaffolding, so the stadium doesn’t look empty on TV.
‘‘It will be different... There are a lot of unknowns until we know what we’ve got to work with,’’ Parkinson says.
‘‘We didn’t secure a Super Rugby fixture this year because of the uncertainty around it and I imagine until we get everything resolved we won’t be bringing All Blacks fixtures here.
‘‘It’s got far-reaching consequences but again we’ve just got to stay positive and work with what we’ve got.’’
It’s also too early to say what the financial cost of losing the stand will be, Parkinson says. But there’s every chance it will eat into the more than $360,000 operating surplus posted in 2016.
‘‘No time’s a good time to lose a key piece of infrastructure like that but it’s a no-excuses policy. We’re working through plans and this is life as we know it now. If you look for excuses you’ll always find them.’’
The East and West Stands were built by Fletcher Construction in 2002, on what was then Rugby Park, and the NPDC were the building control authority. It is owned by the Taranaki Stadium Trust, and trustee Mike Nield said in an emailed statement a decision on the stand’s future will be made later this year after options are considered. However, an engineering report completed last December suggests a re-build might be cheaper than carrying out the work to make it earthquake safe.
‘‘The cause of the issues is still being investigated,’’ Nield said in the statement.
The trust is also ‘‘investigating issues of responsibility and liability’’.
‘‘The decision on the funding of any remedial work for Yarrow Stadium East Stand will be made once the decisions on the options for repair or rebuild of the stand have been made.’’
These decisions will be made once a builder’s report is returned to the NPDC but chief operating officer Kelvin Wright is confident the stadium will be in a position to host Super Rugby next year.
‘‘We’ve been working closely with the Chiefs and will be in a position to host next season,’’ he said in an emailed statement.
Chiefs chief executive Michael Collins says a decision not to play in New Plymouth in 2018 was made late last year when the first engineering report came out.
‘‘Our first thought process is around making sure that the organisation has got everything they need around facilities,’’ he says.
The key needs for Super Rugby are the playing surface, changing facilities, corporate hospitality suites and as many covered grandstand seats as possible, Collins says.
Colins will be coming to the region at the end of March to discuss options with stakeholders ‘‘with an eye to bringing more games here in the future’’.
The franchise is ‘‘definitely’’ planning on coming back, he says. ‘‘We love playing there. ‘‘Taranaki is one of our provincial union partners so like everyone we’d love to have a play in that backyard.’’
Despite the setback, the field is able to be used as normal and Parkinson says 2018 will be a big year for the team as it looks to back up the success of recent years and defend the Ranfurly Shield.
The Log o’ Wood is put on the line at all home games until the playoffs and Parkinson is hopeful rugby fans will get in behind the Bulls.
‘‘It’s still really positive; we’ve got a good team, a good roster of players; we’ve got the Ranfurly Shield.
‘‘Yarrow Stadium as a whole can host 18000 people; we’ve just lost a key bit of infrastructure.
‘‘The Ranfurly Shield has been around for a very long time and at the end of the day it’s 30 people on the ground playing the game and it’s still a good rugby ground.
‘‘If the team plays well and wins and defends the Shield we believe people will come along and support us and that’s what we want. It’s a big deal to win it and a big deal to defend it and we’re really excited about the year.’’
Morris West, aka Ferdie the Bull, has been on the sidelines of Taranaki games for more than 15 years, and is not too worried about how the future will look sans East Stand. ‘‘I’d be going anyway, even if I wasn’t a mascot.
‘‘The TRFU has always been great value for money.
‘‘The fans are important to them. When you put the fans ahead of most other things it makes a difference.
‘‘Everyone’s made to feel part of it and that includes the fans.’’
West says some season ticket holders may miss out because the remaining stand would be ‘‘chocka-block full’’. But the biggest difference will be ‘‘looking at nothing’’ in the empty stand, he says.
‘‘It’s going to be interesting to see what the changes are and it’ll seem weird because you’ll be looking at nothing.’’
He does however hope that the East Stand does not follow the path of AMI Stadium in Christchurch, which still lies desolate seven years after the earthquakes.
It will now be demolished in April.
‘‘We drove past there and even though it would be empty at that time anyway, it looked worse than empty.’’
But the union is in good hands, he said.
‘‘I still think with the people they’ve put behind the union for the last few years, the planning that will be going on now to make this work has been better than what anyone else has done.’’