Final salute to the grand old venue

Fireworks light up Carisbrook in Dunedin on Saturday night as fans and players bring the curtain...
Fireworks light up Carisbrook in Dunedin on Saturday night as fans and players bring the curtain down on 102 years of test rugby at the ground with an All Black win over Wales. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.
The All Blacks farewelled Carisbrook in style with a comprehensive 42-9 win against Wales on Saturday night.

A capacity crowd of 28,000 did not want to leave and lingered long after the final whistle. They watched respectfully as dual international Jeff Wilson cut into the turf with a spade and removed a block to be carried by helicopter to the roofed stadium being built in Awatea St.

• Slideshow: Carisbrook warms up for the final test

• Slideshow: Carisbrook - a celebrated venue

Jud Arthur and Deborah Wai Kapohe, who had earlier sung the national anthems, gave a moving rendition of Auld Lang Syne and fireworks lit up the sky in a final salute to the grand old venue.

Gradually people began shuffling towards the exits, glancing behind them as they went, as though they were leaving behind a close friend.

But what they were leaving was just bricks and mortar. When the bulldozers eventually rumble across the ground, destroying everything in their path, the glue which held the 'Brook together will remain: the elderly lady clutching a blanket around her waist listening to the match broadcast on a transistor radio; the wide-eyed first-year student full of enthusiasm and cheap beer; the mini-van of 60-year-olds getting away from their wives for a "boys' weekend"; the ball boys; the bemused foreigners; the bagpipers; the streakers.

So will the funny hats; the queues for the toilet; the sausage sizzles; the overpriced warm beer. It is just that the show will shift from South Dunedin.

For more than 100 years, Carisbrook and the working-class suburb have stood side by side. The venue will remain operational until August next year. But the surrounding streets are set to change forever. Burns St will never be the same.

For some it will be a blessing. Life will be quieter. For others, there will be a void which cannot be filled.

But the neighbourhood's days of buskers belting out country tunes from their front door or the family two doors down selling sausages in their driveway to raise money for the local kindergarten are numbered.

 

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