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Robbie Deans’ home town of Christchurch is bracing itself for another disaster. Not a repeat of the massive 6.3 earthquake of February 22 that destroyed 10,000 homes and countless buildings, but the real probability of the IRB rating Christchurch as unsafe for the Rugby World Cup.
In rugby-mad Christchurch, that would be devastation, costing the city in the vicinity of $50 million in revenue, so necessary in the rebuilding stage.
Christchurch is scheduled to be the tournament home for Deans’ Wallabies and Martin Johnson’s England, but both hotels are severely damaged.
So too the AMI Stadium, the home of the Canterbury Crusaders, that will host seven games, including two quarter finals.
The ARU hasn’t made a comment so far. A shrewd move, but the RFU has issued a guarded statement:
“Our thoughts are with the people of Christchurch, who are still suffering. It is inappropriate to talk about our players for the tournament, when so many people have lost loved ones.
“We are confident the NZRUWC Ltd, and the IRB, who have kept us informed, will make the right decisions in due course. But until then, this is about a community rebuilding after a tragedy”.
But time is running out, with only six months to kick-off.
There’s no easy answer here, and you can only feel for the people of Christchurch who really need the excitement of the RWC to lift their spirits.
But rescheduling seven games, finding accommodation for two teams with close to 50 members each, and thousands of visitors, could be a logistical nightmare with the entire population of New Zealand (4.32 million) less than Sydney (4.51 million), and slightly more than Melbourne’s 4.15 million.
Like Sydney and Melbourne, there’s no love lost between the north and south islands of New Zealand.
So if Christchurch is ruled out, south island Dunedin looms as a likely substitute. But that too has its shortcomings.
Christchurch has a 45,000-seater stadium, Dunedin only 30,000, and with the NZRU budgeting for a $45 million RWC loss, the switch will only worsen the financial pain.
The problem goes deeper, with Christchurch’s population of 376,700 to Dunedin’s 124,800. With far less hotel accommodation, Dunedin would be bursting at the seams.
It’s a nightmare alright, and a decision, as hard as it is, must be made sooner rather than later.
There is an alternative that wouldn’t appeal to the NZRU one scrap – house Australia and England in Sydney and Brisbane for the five pool games, and fly them to their remaining New Zealand-based pool games.
And transfer the two quarters to Eden Park. New Zealand’s biggest stadium that will host both semis, the play-off for third, and the final.
The five pool games will draw far bigger crowds at the ANZ Stadium, and Suncorp:
* September 10 – Argentina and England.
* September 11 – Australia and Italy.
* September 18 – England and Georgia.
* September 25 – Argentina and Scotland.
* And October 1 – Australia and Russia.
It’s a thought, but nothing can take away from the double devastation to Christchurch if the city is denied its hosting of the 2011 Rugby World Cup.