SPORTRITE - Eyebrow flick for Stan over stadium

With Tim Eves
BRACE yourself for this one but, due to phone calls that left blisters on the ear-lobes and being given a couple of cold shoulders that would make an Eskimo chilly, we feel the need to grovel.
Well, not so much grovel. Maybe you could call this an eyebrow flick. If - on the scale of acknowledgments - grovelling is seen as the equivalent of a mea culpa, then the eyebrow flick is at the other end of the scale.
Next time representatives of sport central spot Stan Semenoff, the mayor, he will get the eyebrow flick for his mid-week attempt at tackling the tricky stadium issue. Maybe it should be mentioned here that he will only get the eyebrow flick if he bothers to acknowledge that a living, breathing human being who writes sport stories for this piece of fish-and-chips wrapping exists.
The last time Mayor Semenoff spotted this sports correspondent, the air suddenly plummeted to very uncomfortable temperatures. As any warm-blooded Kiwi will admit, there is nothing quite as gut-wrenching as an unacknowledged eyebrow flick.
However, hats off to Mayor Semenoff for his latest dabble into Stadium Farce, otherwise known as the proposed Northland Multi-events Centre development at Okara Park.
It must be said that Semenoff's attempt to gather other sports codes and Sport Northland under one roof at Okara Park is the first real sign of civic leadership on Stadium Farce, at least from WDC headquarters.
But, unfortunately, we must simultaneously query Semenoff's stance on the latest plans which threaten to add another chapter to more than a decade of ping-pong style debate, acrimonious backstabbing and shameless grandstanding that has so far achieved two things: Not Much and Stuff All.
Put simply, Semenoff is demanding an 800-seat conference centre, but is only offering enough funding toward the project to build one to house 200-people, and is refusing to relinquish that stance in a manner akin to a kid holding his breath for a lollipop.
The latest development, minus any discernable input of any code but rugby, is brilliant for its simplicity. Hopefully we can breath a huge sigh of relief and watch the bulldozers do their bit to the existing stadium with a satisfied grin.
But it is also a lost opportunity.
Mixing all the sports codes, their administrative offices, the best training facilities (and whatever else you might dream up for the betterment of sport) at one venue has been the obvious answer to the vexed stadium issue since day one.
Sadly, Semenoff's attempt to get that ball rolling again was dismissed. The parties spoken to don't want a bar of it.
Obviously it is going to take a political feat of Berlin Wall proportions to reignite the notion of a shared sports house. Too many sports administrators, including those in charge of our much celebrated regional sports trust, Sport Northland, have seen a glimpse of their own private nirvana and are now unwilling or unable to see the big picture.
They want their own sports kingdoms/headquarters and are unwilling to share their dreams. It is their way or the highway now.
This could simply be dismissed as a bit of a shame. You know, shrug the shoulders and move on. But the implications of this ongoing inter-code fight for trust fund, district council, regional council and sponsorship monies for capital investment, is serious for the future of Northland sport.
Cricket excluded - and that's a not entirely unrelated story all in itself - sports infrastructure in Northland is in serious decline, even if the stadium goes ahead. Without a concerted, cohesive and co-operative approach to addressing infrastructural issues, generations of Northlanders will be left without facilities to play sport at anything more than hit-and-giggle level.
And just to be clear, the financial state of the Northland Rugby Union is not an obstacle to any development proposals at Okara Park. Anyone who tells you otherwise is not worth the effort of an eyebrow flick.
By this time next year the NRU will be solvent. The question is, in what state will be Northland sport, et al.