NEW RUGBY GROUND WANTED

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1033, 25 July 1930, Page 7

NEW RUGBY GROUND WANTED

AMEIMBEK of the New Zealand Rugby Union expects that the British tour will result in a profit of £20,000. Rugby is an amateur game, and it is only fair to the N.Z.R.U. to say that it has been capably and even sternly administered on an amateur basis. Provincial unions have complained before today that the governing body was rather parsimonious with them. After this toui- is over, there are bound to be applications from affiliated unions for loans for the purposes of buying grounds, improving stand accommodation, and the like. And it is safe to say that reasonable applications will have the sympathetic consideration of the national authority. There is no need for indecent haste and a clamorous demand for a share in the spoils, but the plain truth is that it is high time that the Auckland Rugby Union had a ground of its own. When it is realised that a quarter of a century ago the union was able to draw a 20,000 crowd to Potter’s Paddock, and that it has retained strong public support over a long period of years, it is a mystery why the Auckland Union did not have its own ground years ago. At the present time, the Rugby Union shares in the tenure of Eden Park. There have been complaints before today that football “carries the baby,” but there is no need to elaborate on this point. The vital point is that this ground is quite unsuitable as the headquarters of Rugby. The playing surface in places is often notoriously bad. Again, it is too far away from the main City area to draw the crowds, unless a special attraction is on. The League Code has had a tremendous advantage over the older game in its fine ground, only a few minutes away from Queen Street. More important still, Eden Park cannot hold a big crowd. There were only 28,000 people there last Saturday, but it is safe to say that thousands stayed away because they thought there would not be enough room, and many will stay away tomorrow for the same reason.

It is no use blaming the short-sighted policy of past Rugby administrators for the position in which the Rugby Union finds itself today. But the union has no right to sit back and plaintively ask: “What can we do, and where can we get a ground?” It is time for vigorous and progressive action. If the Soccer people, far from being as well off as the Rugby Union, could find a ground for themselves under infinitely more difficult circumstances a few years ago. the Rugby Union can do it, too. Complaints that “it can’t be done” should be sternly repressed, with a reminder that the Rugby Union’s past successful history demands that the future be faced with courage aud determination.