The Herald on Sunday last weekend asked our readers for their views on Auckland Council's planned stadium shuffle.
The plan - which council is set to will vote on next week - would see the Warriors leave Mt Smart Stadium and play its their home games at QBE Stadium and Eden Park, a proposal the league club is are refusing to accept.
Readers crammed our inbox with their views this week, with the vast majority saying the council was out of touch and should abandon the divisive plan. Here is a selection of the edited responses:
How come Len Brown says he is all for the people of South Auckland when he supports the shift of the Warriors? If it wasn't for the people of South Auckland at the last election, he would not be where he is today. Take a look at who turns up now, rain and shine? I bet not a lot of those faces come from north of the Bridge.
-Glen Ericksen
I cannot understand why councillors elected to do their best for the people of Auckland continue to fail. The arrogance of this council is unbelievable. Len Brown used to listen to the people when he was Manukau mayor but the motives of the councillors have many wondering. I grew up going to games at Carlaw Park and it was a sad day when it closed in 2002. Are we going to let another valuable league asset go? Perhaps it is time for an occupation.
-Cindy Walters
Good on the council for doing something to fix our stadium mess. Eden Park was redone at a huge cost - now is the time to make that investment worthwhile. Real fans will travel to watch their team at whatever ground in Auckland they are playing.
-Tom Conroy
Why on Earth would council consider moving a 20-year client as far away as possible from their fanbase as well as from the areas that benefit from their extensive community programmes. Moving their home games to the North Shore will be a financial loss for the club and sends the wrong signal to the NRL who, likewise, are now a large customer of Auckland City. The Warriors are paying the price for poor investment decisions made for Eden Park to meet Rugby World Cup needs, especially when there hasn't been a dollar spent on Mt Smart in the last 10 years.
-John Smith
North Harbour Stadium is a nightmare and to be avoided at all costs. I have been there for two games and both times vowed I wouldn't go again. Listen to what the people want for a change.
-Linda Gilmour
Auckland Council should postpone the vote on the stadium reshuffle until after next year's local body elections, as I doubt many of the councilors will be voted back in, especially the mayor. I strongly oppose the Warriors shifting from Mt Smart. It's our home.
-Tony Johnston
I have supported the Warriors since they began and, through the highs and lows, am still a fan. If the council boffins move them, I will still be a fan but will not be going to Albany or The Great White Elephant (Eden Park) so Sky will be the winner. If they move to Hamilton for home games then, yes, I will still go.
-Kevin
League needs to stay at Mt Smart - that is where its heart is. Like many from Christchurch, I travel to games every year but don't go anywhere other than Mt Smart. You can count my family and I out if they are forced out of Mt Smart.
-Phil Prescott
So the Warriors are going to get the boot from Mt Smart. What's the big deal? If the club had any vision, they would have insisted Carlaw Park was kept and upgraded 20 years ago. But they turned their back on New Zealand league's traditional home and now they are performing like trained seals because they are about to become homeless.
-John Ropati
If the council are desperate to move Western Springs speedway to Mt Smart, why can't speedway and the Warriors share the facility? I know the inclusion of a speedway track would mean current seating would need to be removed but if the money planned for upgrading QBE is allocated to new seating at Mt Smart, this could be a viable option. Already there are two stadiums shared by speedway and an oval ball sport: Baypark Stadium and Arena Manawatu.
-Tracy Lee
To Len Brown and his cronies, if you move the Warriors from Mt Smart, I will make it my mission you and anyone else who voted for this will no longer be in your comfortable jobs.
-Robyn Gallagher
I am appalled that, as someone who supposedly supports all Aucklanders, you are kicking the Warriors out of Mt Smart. It has been their home for two decades. Sending the Warriors to Albany is like sending them to Siberia. It gives Aucklanders the impression you don't care about rugby league in Auckland and certainly don't care about the players or fans.
-Angela Skinner
I've generally been a supporter of Len Brown and think he's accomplished some great things for the city. However, as a strong Warriors supporter, I have to say I'm in shock the council is considering kicking the club out of Mt Smart and trying to force them into QBE. I know I speak on behalf of the majority of Warriors' season ticket holders (many of whom have been members for 20 years) that we will have no interest in renewing our memberships if the club is forced out. What they're contemplating is the death of the Vodafone Warriors. They will lose nearly all their fan base and have to start over. That's 20 years of building the club's support down the drain.
-Benek Lisefski
The council wanting to move the Warriors is another classic example of 'we are bigger, so we know best'. I disagree with the move. Mt Smart is the best place for the Warriors to represent rugby league in this country. I say no to any changes this council want to make and ask that public investigation be held into their decision-making over the whole of Auckland regarding sports clubs.
-Neil Harrison.
League fans moan too much. The facilities at Eden Park and QBE Stadium are far better for an allround fan experience. If league fans really cared about Mt Smart, they would attract far bigger crowds to their home games.
-Ben Solomon
League got taken away from Carlaw Park and now you're trying to take it away from Mt Smart. Mt Smart is the Warriors' home. The majority of fans are from South Auckland - you should know this, Len Brown. Mt Smart is the home of the Warriors and its fans, and for the council to take this away from the league people would be a tragedy.
-Olivia Marks
I think it is unfair to push the Warriors to QBE Stadium when the majority of their fans are in South Auckland. They have a huge fan base and any move over the Bridge would reduce the amount of fans attending games, therefore reducing the club's financial sustainability. A venue closer to the home of the current venue needs to be looked at.
-Kristin Edgeworth
The Warriors must stay at Mt Smart. Millions of dollars have been spent to upgrade what has become the spiritual home of rugby league in New Zealand since the closure of the revered Carlaw Park. To imagine league people attending matches at the soulless white elephants of union-oriented Eden Park or North Harbour Stadium is out of touch thinking similar to the harbour wharf expansion. The sooner council becomes accountable to the folk who elect them, the best for all concerned.
-Noel Andrews
As a local resident in the Mt Smart area, I do not want speedway coming into Mt Smart Stadium. We already hear the noise from Waikaraka Park from our place and now the council intends more of the same within a 5km radius. Leave the venue alone so everyone can enjoy the concerts, rugby league and other events that people attend from all over Auckland and New Zealand.
-Beth Edmonds
Of all the council's 'great' ideas, this is by far their most hare-brained. Do not the leaders have an obligation to listen to the people? In this case, it would seem not. Shame on you, Auckland Council. Listen to the people.
-Bax
I can't believe the council in its upcoming decisions regarding the stadiums and just hope they see some sense. As a league fan living in Farm Cove, I won't go to QBE Stadium, it's just too far. It's about time the council listened to the fans and organisers of the sports who use these stadiums instead of going down their own dream world track that we will then be left with for many years after we vote these incompetents out of council.
-Paul Brown
Why is it that for 20 years, fans from north of the Bridge have travelled to Mt Smart without any issues, yet as soon as QBE is mentioned, Jim Doyle tells everyone that no one will cross the bridge? When he says they won't move, who does he mean? As a season ticket holder, I don't recall being asked my thoughts about moving. Why can't speedway move in with the stock cars at Waikaraka Park? Problem solved.
-Jon
League is strongest in South Auckland, not the North Shore. League appears to be being sacrificed by this plan. Please consider alternatives.
-Peter Ross
I want to raise my strong objection to the proposed stadium shuffle. I am both a speedway and music fan, and attend events at Western Springs and Mt Smart. In no way do I or my family support moving speedway to Mt Smart, thereby destroying our wonderful stadium asset used to host large outdoor concerts by international artists. We have far more pressing issues facing our city than wasting ratepayer money on this net-loss outcome shuffle.
-Geoff Clow
- Herald on Sunday
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11442320
I would have expected better from Tom Conroy. (If it is the ex-kiwi.)
