Rugby Park set to be out for 2025
The Southland Stags could be forced to take their home games away from Rugby Park in 2025.
With the roof needing a significant upgrade, Rugby Park is likely to be out of action for an entire year, meaning the club rugby final, Stags home games, and any other rugby games will need to be shifted.
Les George Oval is set to undergo redevelopment so could be a favoured option, but would also need plenty of other improvements to make it suitable, while the likes of Gore and Winton could also be options, with plenty of space to erect temporary stands which would be required at provincial level.
Invercargill City Council programme director Lee Butcher said they couldn’t afford to continue doing patch-up work.
“Rugby Park Stadium has historically suffered from water leak issues, which have stemmed mostly from the roof penetrations. Over the years the roof’s waterproofing flashings have been replaced and sealed repeatedly, but due to wear and tear from extreme weather, these flashings and seals do fail.
“Following the completion of the 2024 NPC season, significant strengthening works – which will include a full reconfiguration and modification of Rugby Park’s current roofing structure will occur. We expect this work to take between 12-15 months and while we have looked at options for this work to occur outside of the 2025 NPC season, there is no suitable downtime window at the stadium where it is not in use.
“The council are currently working closely with Rugby Southland and stakeholders to look at a range of different game-day scenarios and venues to ensure the best possible outcome for all involved.”
Rugby Southland chief executive Steve Mitchell said there was a lot to be determined before any decision was made.
“The NPC games and how they are hosted are yet to be determined. That is quite a challenging mission.
“It’s great to see some progress on the stadium at Rugby Park and thanks must go to the council for finally biting the bullet.” Mitchell said shifting the games wasn’t a straightforward scenario.
“The logistics of moving an NPC game are much more complicated than people realise. The actual operation manual at an NPC game is as thick as a bible, so it’s not just something we can do like that.
“It’s been in front of the board at our recent AGM, but we haven’t sat down as a board and chatted it in any great depth. We are aware of the request and complications and will be looking through them in the next board meeting.”
He said it was uncertain territory as to what happens with the Highlanders or Matatū coming south in 2025. “Matatū were very very keen to come back again but all of that is on hold until we determine an outcome around that.”