Sevens shows Cape Town Stadium is perfect for rugby
FOR ONCE, Cape Town Stadium really earned its expensive corn this past weekend. It provided a magnificent venue for a rollicking, sold-out rugby Sevens tournament and delivered Cape tourism porn as the television cameras picked up a sequence of glorious postcard images and beamed them round the world.
All that was needed was a caption running across the fabulous views saying: “You can have this for R24/£1… and falling”.
Sitting in the stadium on Saturday in a sunny sea of fancy dress (my surreal favourite was when someone convincingly dressed as North Korea’s Kim Jong-un was surrounded by a group of khaki flunkies and a flock of giant chickens), it was as if our white elephant was having a Cinderella moment after magically transformed into a great investment.
That heady feeling might last through the first of the three controversial Kaizer Chiefs PSL “home” games this Saturday but, by Christmas, we’re back to the grim reality of a serious drain on the fiscus with no long term viability in sight.
However much the council busks up some odds and ends, the stadium needs WP/Stormers’ rugby to consistently thrive. But rugby has decided that it doesn’t need the stadium and the Western Province Rugby Union, reportedly, is on the verge of committing to an expensive revamp of Newlands because the Old Lady needs a major overhaul to stay viable.
It’s not overly dramatic to say that once the union spends those millions, the majestic Green Point edifice is effectively doomed. Which, to anyone who was at the Sevens, feels like madness.
This was the new world of sports entertainment out of the top drawer – more comfortable, more accessible, more spacious, more toilets.
And all with plenty of vibe and in the beating heart of town – and not the claustrophobic southern suburbs. I fully understand the union’s position. There’s never been enough on the table from the city council to make the move worth their while and they have no obligation to rescue anyone from the follies Fifa inflicted on us.
They also had the pain of negotiating with Grant Pascoe for a while. The union, rightly, is looking after its own interests.
But I still believe they may have viewed those interests too narrowly and I wonder if the electrifying experience of the weekend might have given them some food for thought and cause for pause.
Most in the stadium during the two days would give a hearty thumbs-up to watching rugby there regularly.
I know I’ve banged this drum for too long and too often – exactly this time last year I was writing an almost identical column – but consider this as one final plea for sanity before the die is cast when the jack-hammers start re-modelling Newlands.
It’s time for the premier and the mayor to once again invest some political and financial capital in this and to get involved.
There simply must be a way for common sense to prevail.