Stadium chance going, going ... gone, rugby great fears

Sid Going used to play before up to 30,000 screaming fans at Okara Park during Northland rugby's golden era in the 1970s.
Now he fears similar opportunities may be lost for his children and grandchildren.
The former All Black is disappointed with a Northland Regional Council decision to shelve plans to get ratepayers to pay for a $30million multisports stadium in Whangarei.
The future of the stadium is now unclear after the Northland Regional Council dropped the project from its 2005-2006 Draft Annual Plan, calling for more analysis of the proposal over the next 12 months. The council wants to look at where it should be located, who should pay and how it could be managed.
The decision followed 5000 public submissions to the NRC, of which most were in favour of ratepayers paying for the stadium. However, there was also strong opposition from groups such as Greypower that were against the user-payers cost to its members.
"I would hate to see them take it off the agenda completely," Mr Going said.
He hoped Northland had not lost an opportunity to get ahead.
"I was so pleased people 40 years ago decided to leave Rugby Park for Okara Park. It was forward-looking.
"This (multisport) concept was going to provide for the next 40-years.
"My children and grandchildren would have got tremendous benefit from that. I hate the thought of them saying, `You fellas didn't do anything for us. You had the opportunity but you didn't do anything for us'," he said.
Fears about the cost of the proposal for ratepayers were unfounded, he said. "What does it amount to? One dollar a week? You put 20 cents on the ground in front of most people today and they won't even stop to pick it up."
Sport Northland trustee and former Northland player Chris Biddles was very disappointed with the decision. Mr Biddles is also chairman of the Whangarei Aquatic Centre Redevelopment Committee.
"It was a real opportunity for the council to show some vision; to show some forward thinking.
"Are we going to look after our young people or are we going to be dictated to by a very small minority of Grey Power people?" he asked.
He would not support any downsizing of the project.
"I think the wonderful thing about it was it wasn't just going to be a rugby park it was going to be an events centre."
However, former North Auckland rugby player and rugby league stalwart Boy Yates, supported the decision.
Mr Yates believed the Northland Rugby Union, not ratepayers, should pay for the project.
"I'm very pleased. That's the way it should be - it should be user pays," he said.