I haven’t said too much about the Christchurch earthquake because a) it’s not sporting-related, and b) it appears Lancaster Park and their other sporting facilities have stood up to scratch.
The notable omission from that list is poor old Porritt Park, the home of hockey in Canterbury. Canterbury hockey stands to be well and truly shagged for a while. Four hockey turfs down the gurgler and it’s unlikely they will go back there as the ground is well and truly on the new fault line.
At the weekend, the venue that is arguably the best multi-sport facility in the country, Stadium Southland, got similarly shagged thanks to what one weather forecaster memorably called “very wet snow”.
The roof on Stadium Southland caved in. It took out the main court (home of the Southern Steel and the Southland Sharks national basketball league side), the number two court and some of the community courts. At the time of writing, it’s looking like a 12-month rebuild. I spoke to Southland Sharks CEO Jill Bolger and she told me 65 years of Southland basketball history had gone – her office and the office of head coach Richard Dickel had been wiped out too.
They have no uniforms, no balls, no equipment, and as of today, no courts. Naturally, she was pretty cut up about the whole thing.
Now here’s where the two stories diverge.
In Christchurch, where people have lost their homes, possessions, perhaps jobs, Canterbury hockey CEO Tim Shannahan was calling on the Christchurch City Council to bring forward its investment in Porritt Park to get it rebuilt.
In Invercargill, as soon as the loss was known, Facebook was going bananas with offers of help. Richard Dickel was getting emails offering assistance and Jill Bolger was thinking about the insurance claims and plans for next season without a number one court.
Hockey services a minority of residents (in Christchurch’s case 5000 people) but thinks it is up there with the many higher priorities the CCC will have. Tim Shannahan’s reported comments turned me off his organisation straight away.
On the flipside, the Southland Sharks – a first year NBL team this year who made the playoffs – spent a day grieving and then got to the task of making it good. They will have insurance, but they can’t replace that history.
But they are not relying on ratepayers for a handout. They’re using their resources, their networks, and their volunteers to get back in the game. People will help them because they can see them helping themselves for the benefit of basketball in their region.
In a long-winded way, what I am trying to say is that when you vote in the local body elections over the next little while, think about candidates’ views on sport.
While I am a huge fan of having all-weather playing fields for rugby, soccer, league, etc, I don’t know whether I’d be entirely happy for the Council to fork out the whole cost if I was a ratepayer who, say, spent more time at the library.
Call it the Shannahan Principle. If someone is promising the earth (that’s a terrible pun in the circumstances) and wanting everyone else to pay for it, then should you be giving them your vote?
Or should you support those, like the Southland Sharks, who don’t ask for much but will make a difference?
I’m sorry; I’m pulling your leg. This is the city council we’re talking about, after all.