By David Di Somma
A year on from the deadly Christchurch quake, sport too has its challenges as venues like QEII Stadium and AMI Stadium remain idle, and teams like the Crusaders are forced to play all their games away from home.
Built for the 1974 Commonwealth Games, QEII Stadium is now derelict and awaiting demolition, and its demise has affected thousands of Cantabrians.
“The true loss has been indoor sports, water polo, the swimming, basketball – those types of sports,” says Geoff Barry, Sports Canterbury chief executive.
There is now an ongoing debate about how and where to replace the stadium – so far a metro sports hub has been proposed for the central city where it would be located just a block away from AMI stadium and include an Olympic sized swimming pool, and indoor courts.
But at $280 million the detractors say it is too expensive, the location is wrong, and it would take too long to build.
Another controversial idea is that it could be built next to the netball courts in Hagley Park - an area widely regarded as sacrosanct when it comes to development.
“There’ll be a lot of tension around that but I think it’s a fantastic, under-utilised resource and Christchurch now is a lot different , so we can revise our strategy around Hagley Park and we can use it better,” says Mr Barry.
The loss of the ‘Village Green’ at QEII means that Christchurch has not got a first class cricket venue, and a million dollar proposal to upgrade Hagley Oval into a top class cricket venue has already attracted plenty of critics.
The future of the city's best known sporting venue, AMI Stadium, is also unknown, and any urgency for plans to rebuild or replace the stadium dissolved with the decision to build a new $25 million temporary stadium in Addington.
Today as work continues on the 17,000-seater, the Crusaders, who will make their debut there in a month, are reflecting on a year that has been without precedent.
“It’s still pretty raw – we just really feel for those who loved lost ones,” says Crusaders captain Kieren Read.
Soccer, too, has suffered with the sport’s numbers dropping by 1500 in the last season.
On the plus side though, a new artificial all-playing surface was opened at soccer headquarters at English Park.
Hockey is down to three artificial turfs and 1976 Olympic gold medallist Selwyn Maister is the key man to getting more.
“We do need another turf – and if we replaced the two at Porritt Park, there’s another two, and we’d be more relaxed growing the sport,” says Maister.
Porritt Park was devastated by the first quake in September 2010, and today it remains locked up, looking more like a BMX track than an international hockey venue.
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