Invercargill City Council backs All Blacks test match bid

Wednesday, 17 April 2019

The Invercargill City Council has put $90,000 towards Rugby Southland's bid to get a All Blacks test match test to Invercargill next year.

The Invercargill City Council events committee is putting $90,000 towards a potential All Blacks test match in Invercargill next year.

Rugby Southland general manager Brain Hopley, who is leading Invercargill's test match bid, put a presentation to the events committee last week as part of its funding application.

The events committee voted to allocate $90,000 from the events budget, which will be split into $45,000 each year during the next two years.

The council's events committee chairman Darren Ludlow said the funding application for a potential All Blacks test match ticked the required boxes.

* Southland leaders to discuss potential All Blacks test bid

* Behind the scenes backers bring All Blacks to Nelson**

There would be obvious economic benefits in having a test match in Invercargill, he said.

Hopley believed with temporary seating they could push Rugby Park's capacity out to close to 23,000.

Ludlow said the council's financial input would go towards helping to construct temporary seating at Rugby Park for a test match.

Hopley was delighted to hear the council seen benefits in hosting test match in Invercargill and had backed it.

The quest to attract such a major event to the city was for the community, not just rugby, Hopley said.

Ludlow said the council's funding comes with a condition which states that Rugby Park was up to the required test match standard and the council would not be required to put further money into it.

Hopley was confident the Rugby Park ground met the required standards considering test match venue requirements were the same as Super Rugby requirements.

Rugby Park will host a Super Rugby fixture between the Highlanders and New South Wales in June.

Last year the Nelson City Council put $300,000 towards an All Blacks test in Nelson and a further $500,000 towards upgrading Trafalgar Park.

The $300,000 contribution was part of a $1m package to get the All Blacks-Argentina test to Nelson, with the remainder of the money coming from the private business sector.

A similar figure of about $1m would likely to be required if Southland was successful in attracting an All Blacks test.

Invercargill Trust Licensing Trust general manager Chris Ramsay has confirmed the ILT plan to back a bid, although the trust board have yet to finalise what its financial input would be.

Hopley has also been talking with other community funders, as well as the private sector, and acknowledged there was still plenty of work to be done.

Tenders for 2020 home test matches close this week.

Hopley expected venues for next year's home tests to be confirmed in June or July, although was not sure how long the process would take.