Darker times for rugby fans
The man in charge of the $70 million Yarrow Stadium rebuild has apologised to fans if their match day experience suffered because of poor lighting on Friday night.
Taranaki Regional Council (TRC) director of corporate services Mike Nield blamed ‘‘teething problems’’ for the poor level of lighting during the national provincial championship match between the Bulls and Manawatū. Many at the ground, and even more watching at home, were wondering why it was so dark, given that the four lighting towers had supposedly been upgraded to produce a 50% brighter experience at a 30% reduction in power.
A number of people compared it to watching a club rugby training night such was the quality. It was not what they had expected given the pre-match hype of Taranaki returning under the lights for the first time in three years.
But getting an answer to the problem proved almost as problematic as a French referee explaining the importance of not wasting time to a Wallaby flyhalf. Taranaki Rugby, who admitted they were disappointed at the standard of lighting and shadowing on the field, first passed the problem on to the New Plymouth District Council as stadium managers.
The New Plymouth District Council then booted the ball down the road to the Taranaki Rugby Council as stadium managers. Eventually Nield called for the ball, as the TRC owns the venue, and followed it up with a punt of his own. ‘‘We had some teething problems with the new LED floodlights and we apologise if this affected people’s enjoyment of the game on Friday,’’ he said via a statement.
‘‘The lights were running above broadcasting standard lux (illuminance level), and we worked closely with the TRFU (Taranaki Rugby) and Sky TV throughout the game.’’
The crux of the problem, according to Nield, was the lights were supposed to be part of a team effort, joining those on the east and west stand to give overall coverage of the ground.
The problem with the coordinated lighting plan was the roof on the West Stand has not been put on due to delays in construction, which means it has no lights, while the East Stand is yet to be built as part of the rebuild.
‘‘While we had tested the current configuration before the game, clearly that configuration was wrong,’’ Nield admitted.
Contractors were now working on improvements for Taranaki’s last home game of the season against Counties Manukau tomorrow.
As for the stadium, the roof on the West Stand would be put on over summer, while it was expected the East Stand would be completed by 2024.