Tears and cheers as Christchurch embraces return of a rugby cathedral

To walk around Christchurch is to see a city much healed since the devastating earthquake of February 22, 2011.

There are still scars in the shape of empty lots, where shops and offices once stood, and the occasional derelict building. The famous Christchurch cathedral remains fenced off and propped up by thick steel girders, awaiting restoration.

But 15 years after the deadly 6.3 magnitude quake ripped through the region, Christchurch has been rebuilt and revitalised, and on Friday night one of the last pieces of the puzzle fell into place.

The cathedral may still be closed but a new home for one of Canterbury’s other religions – rugby – was opened for business a few blocks away.

The $625 million Te Kaha venue, which is known as One New Zealand Stadium, hosted a launch event featuring the beloved Crusaders rugby team taking on the Waratahs. The venue will play host to 10 teams in five games in the revived Magic Round-style offering of the 15-man game, Super Round.

Opening night, and the days before it, proved to be surprisingly emotional for many Cantabrians, after a long wait for the city to have a footy stadium back as its beating heart.

In the weeks after the earthquake, the Crusaders’ old home ground, Lancaster Park, was one of the hundreds of badly damaged sites condemned and demolished.

The Kiwi champions moved to a “temporary” venue at the modest Eddington Park, which was refurbished inside 100 days with second-hand materials. But the Crusaders’ stay ending up lasting 13 years, as the reconstruction authorities worked steadily to rebuild Christchurch.

After three years of construction, the new stadium is finally finished.

“It does feel like the completion of the jigsaw puzzle,” Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge said.

“There is work to do on the cathedral, but this is the last major one. This is the one that people have been hanging on for the most, and it has really grabbed people emotionally. It’s palpable, isn’t it?”

After the fences came down on Thursday, a TV crew interviewing people about the stadium found several passers-by choking up on camera. One man wiped away tears.

Former All Blacks prop Wyatt Crocket, who played 202 games for the Crusaders, can understand it. The stadium is located across the road from the site of the former Canterbury TV building, which collapsed during the quake, killing 115 people; almost two-thirds of the 185 souls lost in the tragedy. It is now a memorial garden.

“Whenever these milestones come up, it does take you back to 2011 and when it happened, what you went through in the moments, but also those weeks and months afterwards, if your house got damaged or you got relocated. People lost their lives. So it does stir up some emotion,” Crockett said.

“It’s a long time ago, and it’s taken a long time to get here. But yeah, it does take you back.”

Located just minutes from the city centre, the stadium holds 25,000, or 30,000 if the northern open end is filled in with temporary seating. The venue is all but sold out for all three days of Super Round.

Designed by the firm of former Wallaby Al Baxter, One NZ Stadium has a permanent transparent roof made of a hard plastic-like material, which allows sun through and onto the grass. It is supported by massive steel structures and designed to withstand any seismic activity.

“It’s just such a special stadium, what they’ve done here,” Crockett said. “You look back over the last three or four years and the city’s just been getting momentum and getting its vibe back. You speak to people that come to Christchurch and they’re like, wow, it’s changed so much.

“And funnily enough, the last piece of the puzzle is probably what Cantabs are really well known for: a home for their rugby team.”

In a press conference with World Rugby chairman Brett Robinson at a buzzing live site in Christchurch, Super Rugby Pacific CEO Jack Mesley said 14,000 visitors to Christchurch, including 4000 from Australia, would visit Christchurch this weekend.

The shadow of Moana Pasifika’s imminent collapse loomed large, however, and Robinson was punchy as he responded to criticisms that World Rugby hadn’t done enough to support the team and the code in the Pacific.

In one answer that lasted five minutes, the former Wallaby itemised the tens of millions in investments made by World Rugby in the Pacific region for men and women in all formats.

“World Rugby doesn’t underwrite professional teams in any part of the world … it is not our job,” Robinson said.

Robinson rejected the fears about Tonga and Samoa being lost to rugby league, saying: “I have to say to my friend Mr V’landys [ARL Commission chairman Peter], with the greatest respect to your game, we are the game of the Pacific.”

As Robinson spoke, hundreds of people in nearby bars ignored the media scrum and prepared for opening night.

Mansbridge said it would be a great party weekend in the city, and at the new stadium.

“There is real pride in it,” he said. “We deserve it, I think. People have always been a bit humble here but I am starting to say ‘no, this city, these people deserve it. It is time to celebrate and enjoy yourselves’.”

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