A Super Weekend at Te Kaha

By Hamish Girvan

The inaugural round of a Super Rugby round in New Zealand also coincided with the grand opening of the One NZ Te Kaha stadium in Christchurch and both rugby and event wise it was one of the best.

The Stadium
After years of controversy and debate the official replacement to Lancaster Park opened its doors for business on Friday night with the opening game of Super Rugby's Super round of course featuring the current Super Rugby champions the Crusaders.

Christchurch was abuzz all day with fans from both here and Australia filling Christchurch with a new range of bars and restaurants which the city has been anticipating for years.

Location wise it’s a 10 minute walk from the Avon river in the city to the stadium via a number of venues and shops- a total inner city stadium – not like other stadiums located near railway stations or residential neighbourhoods. That is just one of the fan experience advantages the stadium will have over any others here. On a cold rainy night there is no excuse.

Easy enough flow both in and out via multiple entrances also helps with the risk of bottlenecks minimal.

Inside all the concessions are made up of local businesses (the beer of choice Moa is Marlborough based so in the Crusaders region obviously makes it count) and there was not a lot of queuing. Finally, a stadium that has the functionality to pour multiple pints of beer mechanically is a bonus.

The Corporate area is not a lot of boxes but more like an exclusive pub with learners and seats below.

Every seat has a great view (the not a bad seat mantra) and this concept similar to USA stadiums has a standing area at a lower level where a spectator can watch the game with beer in hand as a bonus. (I spent the first 25 mins of the Hurricanes v Brumbies game in this area)

Teething issues were minimal (or hidden from a spectators viewpoint) and there is enough room to mingle in a concourse without being in others way.

The Games
All matches were “home games” for the New Zealand teams and obviously result wise the home teams had the advantage (The Reds were “just about” the only team to provide an upset)

There were fans from all teams there and it was good that local Crusader fans still rocked up
for the other teams’ games on Saturday and Sunday.

Conceptually a Super round works here but it should not be taken for granted. Give it 2-3 years then move it otherwise it has the potential to become stale. The Super rugby organisation should be pretty chuffed how this weekend went. The players and coaches also commented how good it is to play with weather not a factor.

The Experience
Ticket pricing was “Super” sensible. I was not in the most expensive seats but $180 for 5 games over 3 days is excellent value and tickets started at $90 for three days and $45 for children making a family of 2 adults and three children affordable.

As mentioned there is not a bad seat and the view of feeling as if you are on top of the play is different from the feeling of being too far away from the action.

I have visited three modern stadiums in the last 6 months being the London Stadium (West Ham Football Club’s stadium), Tottenham Stadium (Home of Tottenham Hotspur FC) and now One NZ Stadium. Having a purpose built stadium for football or rugby versus multi purpose stadiums changes the dynamics of a fan. The London Stadium is soulless as the action is too far away. (converted from an Olympic Games venue doesn’t help). New stadiums at Tottenham and Christchurch deliver the whole “being there” experience.

There are still the dreaded Kiss and Dance Cams however just as it’s not for me doesn’t mean others don’t enjoy it. One ask – can spectators who seem to have an attention span of 10 minutes not try to start Mexican Waves relentlessly. This is becoming a cringe factor now.

This will become a venue not to passed over by both sporting and cultural events and in this case it passed with flying colours.

Bring on another Super Round at One NZ Stadium.

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