Why ex-All Blacks' plan for new 'home of football' could solve Auckland’s stadium puzzle

Tuesday, 8 October 2024

ANALYSIS: How new plans for Western Springs could resolve long-term issues for not just football, but cricket, speedway and Auckland’s long-term stadium problems, writes Steve Kilgallon.

It’s been a mess for years, the jigsaw puzzle with several pieces missing. And there’s been many plans on how to fix it - all of which have had a common ingredient of not happening.

But the combination of two billionaires and an All Black may just be what helps fix the issue of Auckland’s sports stadiums.

It’s likely that an Auckland Council meeting on October 31 will be asked to sign off on ambitious plans by the backers of the new Auckland FC A-League team - first revealed by Stuff on Saturday - to turn Western Springs Stadium into a ‘home of football’.

The plan, driven by the franchise’s owners, billionaires Bill Foley and Anna Mowbray and, in particular, by former All Black forward Ali Williams, would see a complete rebuild of the main stadium for their team, and provide four and a half fields for community football use, plus a bonus basketball and futsal indoor venue.

It would also mean the eviction of Ponsonby Rugby and Western Springs speedway - and thus, potentially, become the first domino to fall in a stadium reshuffle over the next five years that would change Auckland’s sporting landscape.

One minor fix would come immediately with the new plan: a lack of fields in central Auckland for soccer, whose playing numbers are booming, and junior cricket.

First step for council would be sorting out speedway. They have a vociferous and loyal fanbase which has headed off all previous attempts to kick them out of their much-loved home since 1929.

The only way to soften the departure is the promise of something better. That’s sharing a revamped Waikaraka Park, the city’s other major motorsport venue. Plans are already drawn up for a redevelopment of Waikaraka - so green lighting those would fix the long-term issue of Waikaraka’s deteriorating facilities.

Having speedway there to share the venue with stockcars would make that more feasible. And the lack of residential neighbours and a robust resource consent would end the days of noise complaints about speedway’s revving engines.

Next domino to tumble would be Ponsonby Rugby - with the hope they would be assuaged with new changing rooms and a clubroom at Cox’s Bay Reserve (2.5km from Western Springs), with the promise of an extra field thrown in.

Turning Western Springs into a football venue would then finally kill off any prospect of it becoming a cricket venue, a suggestion that has been aired many times before. It’s understood cricket was not one of those who expressed an interest in taking on the lease of Western Springs (nor were speedway, sources said).

That in turn could bring to a head the long-term issue of Eden Park’s incompatibility with cricket.

Auckland Cricket might be tempted by a permanent move to Colin Maiden Park, in the city’s east, the home of the University club, where there is already a national-standard playing surface on the main oval.

There are buildings available on site for Auckland Cricket to shift their administrative headquarters there. Once they are on site, then the possibility of turning Colin Maiden into a venue suitable for test cricket, similar to Christchurch’s Hagley Park becomes more tangible - and Auckland is painfully lacking somewhere suitable for test matches.

That would make Eden Park’s number two field more available for major events at the stadium, which is desperate to be allowed to hold more big concerts.

In February, council has a much bigger decision to make - which stadium to back as Auckland’s long-term major events venue: Eden Park or the proposed Quay Park venue on the city’s waterfront. For both proposals, council are refusing to put in a cent.

With the Warriors making full use of Mt Smart Stadium to house its growing roster of junior, reserve and women’s teams, that would only leave one remaining issue to tackle: what becomes of North Harbour Stadium, the city’s unloved white elephant (even uglier since council chopped a hole in one stand to accommodate a now-defunct professional baseball team).

Declining crowds for North Harbour in rugby’s National Provincial Championship, the prospect of all major football shifting to the new Western Springs and the limited appeal of the Moana Pasifika Super Rugby team has left few options for the stadium as a major venue. However, its outer fields are heavily used by community sport and must be retained.

Previous plans have, of course, all faltered. This one is strikingly different to the last, which suggested taking speedway to Mt Smart, the Warriors to North Harbour and cricket to Western Springs. That one seemed to upset almost everyone and involve a lot of public money being spent.

What might make these plans work is that, in these more conservative times, they seem more pragmatic, involve a mostly willing array of sporting organisations and don’t seem to involve huge sums of capital expenditure - except by a couple of billionaires who can comfortably afford the cost and the risk.

October 31 should bring more details. Auckland FC’s chief executive Nick Becker wasn’t giving much away on Monday, saying the club itself was not directly involved (tallying with the suggestion it’s Williams himself who is the main driver): “I reckon if a stadium got built at Western Springs, that would be fantastic.I would definitely have a look at it.”

Additional reporting: Andrew Voerman.

What should be done with Western Springs? Have your say in the comments below.