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Celebrating 10 years since Forsyth Barr Stadium opened in 2011 are (clockwise from front) former Dunedin city councillors Andrew Noone, Michael Guest, Syd Brown, Paul Hudson, John Bezett and Colin Weatherall, former mayor Peter Chin and former DCC chief executive Jim Harland, sharing a laugh in George St yesterday.
Missing from the group of 10 councillors who voted to proceed with the stadium are Bill Acklin, who sent his apologies, and the late Richard Walls and Neil Collins.
The dinner for the remaining councillors from the 10 who voted "yes" to the then controversial project was held at Golden Harvest Restaurant, in George St.
Mr Chin said it was the second such get-together to celebrate the decision, which ultimately lost him the mayoralty at the next election.
The councillors should take pride in the asset that more than delivered on its promise, he said.
"I glow inwardly every time I go past the stadium," Mr Chin said.
Mr Noone, who now chairs the Otago Regional Council, said the day of the 2009 vote to fund the project was tense and dramatic.
The stadium had been "one of those projects" that created a lot of interest, and a lot of opposition.
"You never look back," he said.
"It’s not a personal decision, it’s what’s best for the city - and in fact it was a regional decision, because it was built for the region as a facility that would serve south of the Waitaki."
The councillors who voted in favour of the stadium had received hate mail and insults for several years afterwards, Mr Guest said.
"But we don’t get it now."
Still, the naysayers who did remain, continued to get the figures wrong, he said.
Mr Weatherall said it had been a bit of a wrench coming away from Carisbrook, and he respected people who believed building the stadium was not the right thing to do.
"But let’s get on and enjoy it, because we’ve got it, it’s here, and we would probably never do it again - so let’s make the most of it."