Wynne Gray: We deserve grounds suited to rugby

Wynne Gray

It struck me again as the Blues ventured across the Coathanger this week to train in preparation for tonight's game with the Reds at North Harbour Stadium. Nice ground, good surface, a stadium suited to oval-ball games which would be topped off if it had another enclosed spectator pit across from the main grandstand.

It is one of the 13 venues for the 2011 Rugby World Cup when New Zealand will showcase the sport and the nation to the world. Of those grounds only a few seem satisfactory for a rugby spectator.

None of the major test arenas qualify because, despite extensive renovations being undertaken at Eden Park and Christchurch, they will still cater for cricket so crowds are kept away from the touchlines.

In this era when we are bombarded by sport on our television screens and given tremendous views and replays of the action, it does not make optical, financial or time-consuming sense to regularly visit those dual-purpose venues to watch rugby.

Of the grounds being used in 2011, those in Hamilton, New Plymouth, Invercargill and North Harbour will be the best suited to watching games of rugby.

But it remains a great shame that this rugby-obsessed nation, one that pointed its nose at the 2011 World Cup and won the hosting rights, will still be without a stadium to stand alongside the All Blacks global rugby ranking.

A great stadium does not necessarily mean a monster colosseum like Twickenham where the angle of the seating leaves you feeling less connected to the game than, say, the arenas in Cardiff or the old national stadium in Paris. The former Olympic Stadium in Sydney is just too vast and, like Croke Park and the MCG, your view is too distant to feel really sympathetic to matches there.

The new Thomond Park in Munster is a beauty, about the size of Waikato Stadium, while a personal favourite remains Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane where about 55,000 can watch games close to the action.

Stadiums in South Africa helped make that 1995 event the best in the history of the World Cups. The stands at grounds in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Pretoria might be ageing, but, along with those in Durban, Bloemfontein and other areas, allowed you to feel so much more connected to events on the field.

Two years ago we were spoiled by the ambience and spectator-friendly conditions at grounds in France as the World Cup unfolded.

How the renovated Lansdowne Rd in Dublin pans out will not be tested by the All Blacks this season, although those following the end-of-year tour will be able to check out new venues in Tokyo and Milan.

Nantes and Toulon have a great attraction, and the trip to Old Trafford in 1997 was superb, as the All Blacks played at the famous soccer ground.

When the All Blacks played Italy on their 2000 Northern Hemisphere tour, it was a privilege to wallow in the surroundings at the Luigi Ferraris Stadium in Genoa while for an outrageous atmosphere, it was something else to be at the River Plate Stadium in Argentina in 2001 when the All Blacks needed a late Scott Robertson try to avoid defeat.