The Battle for Yarrow Stadium
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Mellow Yarrow he story behind the plight of Yarrow Stadium is full of “what-ifs” and “with-the-benefit-of-hindsights”. T What if they hadn’t built Taranaki’s premier rugby ground in a swampy valley? What if the NIMBY neighbours around Sanders Park in Westown had accepted the first plan to build Rugby Park there in 1927? With the benefit of hindsight, should the playing field have been laid west-to-east instead of north-south, so the grandstands weren’t built on fill? Now that both stands have been declared earthquake-prone, a lot more what-ifs loom over the investigation into what should be done ...including the big one: can it stay there? Although Yarrow Stadium may never again attract crowds as big those during last century's Ranfurly Shield eras and international games (nearly 40,000) memories of extraordinary occasions linger within most Taranaki family histories. We’ve got too much in to abandon the place, and initial alarm has been displaced by determination to fix it. WORDS: Jim Tucker PHOTOS: Jim Tucker, Puke Ariki f he was still alive, there’d be nobody more shocked than James McLeod at the news Yarrow Stadium’s stands have been declared an earthquake risk. He died in I 1944 after a distinguished career as a politician, chair of the Taranaki Rugby Football Union for more than 30 years, manager of the provincial team and at least one All Black touring team – and the man most responsible for building Rugby Park. His work getting the original ground under way in 1929 and opened by 1937 is celebrated with a memorial erected in 1947. Regular patrons coming into the ground from the main Maratahu St entrance will be familiar with it at the top of the northern terraces. They’re likely to see a lot of it over the next long time, now that the stadium is restricted to seating crowds on the two end embankments. The main stakeholders - the rugby union, the stadium trust and main parent body Taranaki Regional Council, managers New Plymouth District Council, and Sky TV – have decided Taranaki can defend the Ranfurly Shield there if the two grandstands are cordoned off. Under that arrangement, the stadium can still hold more than 14,000 - but will they come if they can’t view the games from side-on? Nobody knows for sure, but there is optimism, given the province’s current grip on the shield…and the crowd behaviour at some other Shield-holding locations in the past. In Auckland in the 80s, for example, locals swapped ends at halftime to get a closer view of their try-scorers. Taranaki Rugby Football Union chair Lindsay Thomson hopes it doesn’t come to that, because he’s counting on both ends being full. Thomson believes that Yarrow Stadium must not only be saved in the long term, but must be made serviceable in the short. “This stadium has been the spiritual home of Taranaki rugby for more than 80 years. We can’t allow that history to be lost and must do everything possible to retain the stadium we enjoyed prior to the recent problems arising,” he says. That assessment was formed after considering alternatives in Inglewood and Hawera, talking to Sky Sport about how much light power they need for night games, and acknowledging the superior nature of the Yarrow arena. The fact is, there’s nowhere else in Taranaki with lighting good enough to stage night- time rugby, which Sky Sports naturally prefers while Taranaki holds the country’s most coveted provincial trophy. Thomson and newly appointed TRFU chief executive Jeremy Parkinson (who arrived in January) say in the meantime it’s their job to put the Taranaki Bulls on the best field to play the best rugby. “We need it to be a free-draining, sand-based ground,” says Parkinson. “We’ve got a Super Rugby backline, so we need to give them the tools to operate off. That’s Yarrow Stadium, and Yarrow Stadium lighting, which is world class.” Parkinson says the TRFU has worked with the NZ Rugby Union and Sky, and while it was decided at first the ground must be closed, further analysis of various structural reports and earthquake risk assessments swung things back in favour of playing at Yarrow after all. 2 “It’s given everyone peace of mind that everything is safe and there’s no risk to the public or players or anyone,” he says. The draw for the Mitre 10 Cup, starting on August 16, has Taranaki’s first home game scheduled on August 24, a Ranfurly Shield defence against Manawatu. For patrons, the end terraces it is. The Star Gymnasium and Spotswood United Rugby & Sports Club’s facilities will be borrowed for catering and hospitality, and temporary dressing rooms built in the south-east corner of the ground. Training has decamped to the racecourse stadium, while TRFU management has moved into the bottom floor of the Sport Taranaki building on the edge of the number two ground. It’s an arrangement that may have to do for quite a while, years perhaps. At this stage the stakeholders are focused on getting through the rest of this winter season, so how the elephant on the field can finally be shooed away is still being investigated. hen news of Yarrow Stadium’s problems surfaced late last year, there was some initial confusion over whose responsibility it was to sort them…and Wwho was to blame. People asked: who owns it? And who’s going to pay? The answer to the first question is not as straight-forward as you’d think. Although a sign at the stadium says it’s owned by Taranaki Regional Council and operated by New Plymouth District Council, neither is directly responsible – technically speaking. New Plymouth Mayor Neil Holdom declined to discuss it in February: “We don’t own it – ask Taranaki Regional Council.” The stadium is officially owned and governed – as opposed to operated - by a body called the Taranaki Stadium Trust, a council-controlled organisation (CCO) based at TRC’s offices in Stratford. The regional council provides annual funding to operate the trust and appoints its members. Basil Chamberlain, the regional council’s CEO, says NPDC has an agreement with the trust to manage the facility – “including managing the challenging issues of the present moment”. He says work is under way on four fronts – finding alternatives for the major tenant and others; completing engineering and related work to provide clear understandings of the issues and problems, and fully complete the earthquake building code assessments; seeking proposals to “fix” the identified problems; and investigating whether there were faults in past professional advice or decisions, for which redress could or should be sought. Until some expert work has been done, neither TRC nor the trust nor NPDC will speculate on what the remedial options might be. The trust’s examination of who might be at fault is privileged for obvious reasons, Chamberlain says. He’s optimistic. “We all need to acknowledge there is complexity present. Whatever 'solutions' emerge, I’m sure Taranaki will move on them expeditiously in the best interests of Taranaki's future - because that’s who we are.” 3 ellow - the first word used in the headline for this story - has many meanings, but the ones applying here are “matured, aged, seasoned”. Few M Taranakians will be unaware of the second word: Manaia baker Noel Yarrow and his wife, Melva, were generous benefactors, hence the stadium and west stand are named after them. The stadium’s history has had nearly a century to mellow out, decades during which many thousands have enjoyed its facilities, contributed to its development, cheered on sporting heroes within the echo of its stands. Early photographs (rediscovered recently in a Puke Ariki Museum photo album, complete with typed history) show the first physical labour to shape the ground was done with axes, shovels and picks, horses and carts. Before that, the need for a stadium was first addressed by the Taranaki Rugby Football Union (formed in 1889) in 1927. It first chose what is now Sanders Park (home to Tukapa Rugby Football Club) in nearby Wallace Pl, but empowering legislation fell through when neighbours objected. By that time, interest in rugby was growing rapidly. Four fields were being built on the New Plymouth racecourse, others on the Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s grounds at Waiwhakaiho. So, MP James McLeod – who chaired the rugby union for 32 years (1912-1944) – had no intention of giving up. Later in 1927, he got an option to buy today’s location, more than 15 acres (six hectares) of vacant valley land owned by the Standish Estate. The union offered to buy that and another couple of acres for £1500, and had plans drawn up for terracing to accommodate 7000, two grandstands seating a total of 2000, development of two playing fields, and £1800-worth of grassing and drainage. Its first offer was turned down by the estate’s lawyers, but a deal was eventually made in February 1929 - 15 and a half acres for £1400. To provide access to the valley, the union also bought the former Witiora Golf Links and another town section for £325. The union sent a local engineer, Mr Palmer, to Wellington to look at Athletic Park, and when he returned plans were redrawn to build seating for 10,000 people. No mention is made of whether he advised on grandstands, but the first one - a wooden structure - went up on the eastern touchline in the mid-1930s.