Dunedin rugby club pleads for help as sea threatens grounds

Guadalajara: in those days people were responsible for their own bills, these days all we ever see in Dunedin is rugby with its hands out; whether it's club rugby in this case, the ORFU having us build them a stadium and subsidise their use of it, the Highlanders having us build and subsidise them both a stadium and a headquarters - it never seems to stop.

And we don't ever see rugby giving back to the wider community, it's all rugby rugby rugby, where's the private fundraising Mr Farry promised? What about Carisbrook being donated to help build the stadium? All empty promises.

Just look at CST's latest yearly accounts on file at the Charities Office, they raised $80,000 in donations, and spent slightly over $81,000 on 'expenses' - when you shake out the year end totals none of those donations really found their way to the city to pay for the stadium, they were just swallowed up in the trust - it's time the CST threw open all their books and let an independent auditor go through them.

Good idea Topsy I know those Catholics have got truck loads of money.

The church could buy the stadium use it as a giant open air church on Sundays and the rugby club could use it on the Saturdays.

The church might even be able to make it turn a profit, with a little help from a friend of course.

Dunedin Rugby Football Club can stop worrying. They have an alternative venue that they can use. It's sitting down on the waterfront, just off Anzac Avenue. Freshly finished, with plenty of vacant time for use. The stadium was sold to the city as being a community asset. Finally now the community can get to use it.

....that MikeStk, who often harks back to the good old days of Otago amateur rugby and grassroots rugby in general, should be so dismissive of a very strong bastion of those institutions. The Dunedin RFC has forged a very strong identity over the years and have contributed significantly to the fabric of not only Otago rugby, but also to the city of Dunedin itself. And I am saying this as a Protestant who never played for the club, but admires and respects them for what they have achieved.

Looks like South Dunedin will beat Mosgiel to get Dunedin's newest swimming facility.

H.O.T as you know what the current council is like I would have thought you would be a little more circumspect about what you suggest. There is the distinct possibilty they will pick up your ball and run with it.

Yes nature may provide the playing field for free but imagine all the ancillary stuff that would need to be provided. Grandstands would require special seating to prevent spectators floating away and each seat would need a regulator and air supply with backup in case of failure.

Spectators (and probably players) would require specialised goggles that could compensate for days where visibility was not very clear.  There would need to be some form of protection around the field to keep it clear of obstructions such as  fish and the like. Would shark attack just be a risk of the game or would you try and protect against it.

You haven't thought this through have you, it could end up costing far more than the stadium with the risk that ratepayers may have to fund it again. At least the fish and chips at the games would be fresh.

You mention nude rugby, do you see these games being played in the nuddy as well?

According to DCC and historic records, at the old tip sites there, there are tonnes of asbestos, chemicals and heavy metal materials dumped under those grounds. These came from waste, and also from the destruction of gas works, and other industries that houses are built on South Dunedin.

Independent testing has found the following:

Chromium, Manganese, Iron chelates, cuprates, tars, coke, naptha, benzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxins (12 types) and traces of other exotics.

The cheapest option is to let it wash out to sea. [abridged]

Why should we care about the fortunes of a rugby club, surely its members can simply join one of the many other Dunedin clubs, there are far more important issues here - people's houses on the flat in South Dunedin.

The natural flow of sand coming north from the Clutha has been greatly diminished ever since the Roxbourgh dam was built - the loss of our city beaches will not stop unless they tear out all the Clutha dams, global warming will just make the problem worse.

The city should be planning for this, saving up to build the sorts of costal defences that places like Holland live with, it won't be cheap to save South Dunedin - so if we have to tear up a rugby ground or two to save people's homes the choice should be obvious, there are plenty more places to play including a mostly empty stadium.

Rugby is dwindling in popularity.  Inundation of sports fields may be a blessing.  Look at how water polo has long been included in the Olympics. Nude rugby attracts enthusiastic attention well beyond the followers of conventional rugby.  Here is the chance for Dunedin to be the leading centre for aqua-rugby.  Like the stadium this advance will bring tourists and attract students to the University of Otago and put Dunedin on the map, and unlike the stadium it shouldn't cost the rate payers a cent, since nature is willing to provide the facility free of charge.