Hope for Sports Hall of Fame

The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
The New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame. PHOTO: GREGOR RICHARDSON
The future of the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame remains unclear after a limited discussion at a Dunedin City Council meeting.

An item about the hall was withdrawn from the agenda for this week’s 10-year plan deliberations after council staff received additional information about future options to be investigated by the Dunedin Indoor Sports Venue Trust.

The trust runs the multi-purpose indoor sports venue the Edgar Centre in Andersons Bay, which has been suggested as a possible home for the hall of fame, although the building would have to be extended.

Trustee Alan McKenzie said the board met on Monday and agreed to undertake feasibility work to see if an expansion could be viable, possibly to host the hall and more sports.

The council owns the building.

Keeping the hall of fame in Dunedin would be highly desirable, Mr McKenzie said.

The hall has been at the Dunedin Railway Station since 1999. It houses exhibits such as the kayak in which Paul MacDonald and Ian Ferguson raced to an Olympic gold medal in Seoul in 1988.

However, the sports museum is under threat of closure and the city council did not come to the rescue this week with any funding increase.

Councillors had a limited discussion on Monday. They paused to consider legal advice and then did not revisit the subject this week.

The legal advice was understood to be about the implications of the council adding the hall to the facilities under its watch — an option that to date has appeared expensive and for which political will among councillors has not seemed to be widespread.

A $50,000 lifeline provided by the council to keep the museum open expires this month.

Some council funding, about $47,000, is to continue and the hall gets a 50% rebate on its rental at the council-owned railway station, but the hall had indicated it would need another $100,000 in 2021-22 to stay open through the year.

No councillor proposed a short-term top-up this week.

Councillors are also still awaiting a report by Recreation, Sport and Leisure Consultancy about possible locations for the hall of fame.

grant.miller@odt.co.nz

Comments

What about Dunedin's other Museums, yes the small volunteer run organisations that run on a shoe string.
Why does an greater NZ themed SHOF collection get Dunedin's ratepayer money?
I have yet to see a sound reason that allows the SHOF funds & the other collections to be overlooked.
Just what was in the redacted Rodney Wilson report that put all the focus by the DCC into the TOSM & the money pit Otago Museum ?

 

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