New Zealand: Guardians of the park (20 January 1999)

20 January 1999

New Zealand: Guardians of the park

Shayne Currie

Bruce Irvine's earliest memory of Lancaster Park is the embankment. Standing huddled, in freezing weather alongside his father and hundreds of other rugby pilgrims.

"Fergie McCormick had a penalty right in front of the posts, the easiest kick ever, and he missed it," reflects Irvine.

"The crowd just went ..., " he trails off, realising Fergie probably doesn't need reminding of the old times.

Irvine is back at the park, metaphorically speaking, in a much more auspicious role. Thirty-two years on, and now a managing partner of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu in Christchurch, Irvine is the chairman of Jade Stadium Ltd, the new board set up to oversee the park's operation and redevelopment.

The seven-member board officially replaced the Victory Park Board on December 1.

Its priority is to return Jade Stadium to the forefront of the minds of the people who select the venues for our big rugby and cricket tests.

The stadium is fast losing ground to the three other big cities it competes against to secure the matches. The embankment just holds no attraction to many fans any more -- it was even difficult to sell embankment tickets for last year's Bledisloe Cup rugby test.

Wellington's new railyards stadium will be finished and opened in one year, Auckland's Eden Park is about to be floodlit, while Dunedin's Carisbrook is already enjoying the fruits (and the fans) of its redevelopment.

"It's been made clear to us that unless we get a ground, or stands of an appropriate quality, then we will not fare very well in that competition," says Irvine.

The Canterbury Rugby Union has been critical of the time it has taken to start the redevelopment. It thinks there has been too much dithering within the city council.

Latest estimates have the $35 million project starting next October, and taking 18 months to complete.

"The message I want to get across is that the Jade Stadium board is in place and they want to get this thing under way," says Irvine.

"They are not mucking around, but over-riding it is that we are signing off as directors to a commercially-viable operation and we need to satisfy ourselves that we have the necessary levels of revenue."

To that end, the board's business plan, to be completed shortly, will be the most crucial document of all the paperwork, artistic diagrams, and figures, which spew out in the planning stages.

"We have to work to a business plan and make sure we are a commercially viable operation. That means nailing revenue streams."

This includes confirming a commitment from rugby and cricket about their future use of the ground, as well as likely returns from the sale of corporate boxes, secondary naming rights, and percentage returns from food and beverage sales.

Negotiations with rugby and cricket continue.

One of the biggest issues is the increasing intrusion of rugby into the cricket season.

A Super 12 game will be played on the ground next month, two weeks before the New Zealand-South Africa cricket test.

Mesh material will be used to cover the cricket wicket for the rugby game.

There are high hopes that the portable pitch will pass a stern test this summer. It is being trialed for the Canterbury-Central Districts Shell Trophy game from February 9-12.

"We are working with both of the codes to try to sort through these things," says Irvine.

"There's plenty of goodwill there on both sides."

However, he acknowledges, as has cricket, that some of the first-class games traditionally seen at Jade Stadium -- such as Shell Trophy -- will probably be played at other venues in the future.

"I don't think there's a lot worse than having a game of cricket at Lancaster Park with 40,000 seats and 100 people watching the game," says Irvine. "That must detract from the pleasantness of the environment."

But in terms of what matches will be played at the likes of Rangiora and QEII, and which ones will stay at Jade Stadium, has not been confirmed. Again, the talks continue.

Irvine, who was celebrating his 42nd birthday on the day The Press interviewed him, is a keen sports fan. He follows rugby and cricket, plays golf, and is also keen on athletics, tennis and squash.

He is, however, coy about his achievements on the sports field.

The thought of The Press going into that sort of detail "horrifies me".

A chartered accountant with qualifications in commerce and law, he has spent most of his life in the South Island.

Born in Ashburton, raised in Christchurch, and educated in Nelson, he returned to Christchurch and attended Canterbury University after his secondary schooling.

He spent four years with Deloittes in London, before returning to the Christchurch office in 1986.

He became a partner in 1988 and a managing partner in 1995.

And while he holds fond memories of the embankment, he says that they do not stand in the way of his job as as a businessman.

"I have a lot of emotional attachment to the park. Over the years with the shield challenge days and all of those sorts of things . . .

"But you have to look at it now from a different perspective. How can you make this the premier rugby and cricket ground for the South Island?

"The past, while it has some influence, means very little going forward."

Source :: The Christchurch Press (https://www.press.co.nz/)