Scrummage over stadium continues
It’s another hospital pass for the Taranaki Bulls.
With Yarrow Stadium’s earthquake-prone West and East Stands set to remain out of action in the 2019 Mitre 10 Cup, the Taranaki Rugby Football Union is considering its options following the heavy cost of this season’s disruption – but it won’t be suing the ground’s owners.
While ‘‘in an ideal world’’ the TRFU wants to stay at Yarrow, they have not completely ruled out moving to TET Stadium in Inglewood or Ha¯ wera’s TSB Hub, chief executive Jeremy Parkinson said.
But their first choice remains a ‘‘boutique venue’’ inside the Yarrow ground with temporary seating in front of the main stands.
‘‘Obviously the marquees work well and the corporate and hospitality people really enjoy that, being close to the action.
‘‘We just need to work around whether it can happen – there’s exclusion zones around the stands and we have to provide four and a half metres between the touchline and any sideline advertising.’’
The Taranaki Rugby Football Union is a $4.5 to $5 million business and having no main stands took away 20 per cent of its commercial income at the stadium, and season members dropped from 1600 to fewer than 700.
However, Parkinson said the TRFU will ‘‘not at all’’ consider taking legal action against the owners of the ground, the Taranaki Stadium Trust, or the operators, New Plymouth District Council. The NPDC and TST had given them a workable stadium this season under very short timeframes, he said.
‘‘We’ve got a really good relationship,’’ Parkinson said.
‘‘We’re all in this together,’’ he added.
Plans to fix the stands will be put out for public consultation early next year.
Progress on development could start mid-2019 – just before the rugby season begins in August.
Parkinson said their plans would depend on what work was required to make Yarrow fully operational.
‘‘There may be the possibility that we’re faced with a season that we can’t play there.
‘‘We don’t know, that’s all speculation, but our intention is to stay at Yarrow.’’
However, moving venues would be less than ideal from a corporate and hospitality point of view, with 95 per cent of the club’s partners based in New Plymouth.
‘‘It’s the beauty of finishing work on a Friday and walking up.’’
TST trustee Mike Nield said work on potential solutions was continuing ‘‘at full pace’’.
‘‘All four parties are committed to finding a solution for Yarrow Stadium, and getting it implemented as soon as possible,’’ he said.
TRC was continuing to exclude the public from meetings on the stadium to get a competitive price for the tender and protect ratepayers, he said.
‘‘If we say in the public arena ‘Fix A is going to cost $200 million’, contractors are going to say, ‘we’re going to put a figure in of $200 million’.’’
Meanwhile, the commercial and community facets of the TRFU moved from Sport Taranaki into the Tuson Stand at the Pukekura Raceway on Tuesday, joining the high performance team who have been there since March.