Blimey we're a bunch of moanin' old parochial whingers down there in NZ. I live in Pomgolia and I thought the English were bad........ But my fellow NZer's really do take the gold medal for whinging…

"A late bid to have the 2011 Rugby World Cup final played at the newly developed Karori Park was launched today by the Friends of Karori Park (FOKP).

“We are confident the park will be ready in time,” spokesman Big Al Graham said today. “We…

It is hard to know if they cater to, or create the beachfront frenzy that is ripping the quiet of the coastal and rural areas apart.

Supplying property to well-heeled Aucklanders for weekenders has overwhelmed much of…

Watching the empassioned speeches from the likes of Tessa Duder, Keith Locke and all the others bemoaning the death of NZ's connection to the water, what do I bloody do but open the Sunday Satr Times to page C13 and there in…

Now we just need to go ahead and get it done. Maybe we should offer the members of the residents' association some places in a nice quiet retirement home somewhere?

Nah. Take over one of the wharves and build apartments there, throw all the residents in that. Build some bars,…

Spoken like a true architect :)

Ha! :-) Actually, I'm not an architect, just someone who loves cities to be compact and lively. I didn't mean to say "stuff the costs and that pesky gravity business, just build it anyway" – just that I'm not in a position to judge…

Build the stadium in Huntly

They could use one of the old opencast mines – a natural amphitheatre several storeys deep & several hundred metres in diameter.

Must have a look on google earth to see what's available.

I still believe that a CBD-edge site should have been chosen if at all possible, but it looks like it never would have been a goer from an engineering or financial point of view.

Spoken like a true architect :)

Amen! Or more accurately: Yeah right.

To paraphrase that tui billboard ad i heard someone talking about:
Build the stadium in Huntly -yeah right!

ACC: let's go for the waterfront site. Oh, not that waterfront site: another one.

ARC: oh no you don't, we need that for…

Mallard has just said its back to Eden Park

bummer, oh well i guess it was the right thing to do, politically

i'm disappointed, but i guess the ARC is happier with people funnelling through the suburbs of mt eden, than getting in the way of their lucrative containers. can…

Normal transmission has been resumed....

Move along these are not the stadia you are looking for....

What "motorwayed environment"?

How about this one for a start?

We don't need any more stadiums in Auckland

And we definitely don't need any more Albanys.

Great points there Matt, having been to many games at Twickers over the last 4 years I was always amazed at the amount of people that would flood into the shop there and spend up large, we had a friend who would regularly part with 50 quid…

Keith Locke should've campaigned on a carbon tax platform. Imagine 60,000 flatulent rugby fans in one place blasting holes in the ozone layer! Has to to…

The reality is that the city needs a publicly accessible major event stadium that belongs to the city and nation, not an interest group.

Well posted, Indeed the nation needs public accessible etc. The "cake tin" represents the prototype and while I would love the WC…

Eden Park is all very well…

**The reality is that the city needs a publicly accessible major event stadium that belongs to…

Haven't had time to go over it but is…

Press Release by New Zealand Government at 2:34 pm, 24 Nov 2006

“I have formally received the decisions of the Auckland Regional Council and the Auckland City Council relating to the location of the stadium for the Rugby World Cup 2011 final.

The decisions are not consistent.
I will refer…

Auckland really doesn't deserve it. They get the motorwayed environment they deserve.

So the rich smucks of the apartment dwellers are going to win over the poor buggers of suburban eden park?

negative impact on the heritage and urban design values of the Britomart precinct and the adjacent waterfront area

Bejesus their inerpretation of heritage and urban design values must include locks, cranes, containers freakin ugly buildings...

Mind…

Jade is not a meaningful option.

Eden Park will never be a "National Stadium" ergo Auckland ratepayers can foot the bill

Upgrading Jade to 60k seats is cheaper and Christchurch people can agree on things

not to mention that the south island is a much better destination for both overseas…

put down some jerseys in the corners and play shirts vs skins. heaps cheaper, and it doesn't ruin the view.

In fact, in my considered opinion with a France-NZ final, that could well MAKE the view.

Councillors voted 12 to nil against the waterfront stadium proposal.

And now back to the book...

What puzzles me is what the Rugby Union had in mind when they made their herioc bid for the World Cup. Did this business/sports company always expect the population at large to prop…

The entire population of Auckland does not live on the other side of the harbour bridge. Some of us live in places like Massey, Gled Eden, Papatoetoe, Otahuhu, Onehunga and a few dozen other suburbs which are all quite a way from…

I just feel that the ability for people to be able to train/bus/ferry/drive to a ground is a real advantage.…

Would_all_60,000 be coming from your side of the city?

I was not expecting them to travel at that pace on match day. Just pointing out how close it is in real terms compared to the long way that south-side dwellers regard it…

Besides, the point…

Ten or fifteen minutes away ...

When there are 60,000 people heading in the same direction? I think not. I've been to NH Stadium from just south of the bridge a number of times, and I've never done it it 10 minutes. South Aucklanders would be wanting to allow at…

That is: really, really afraid, cos the sweaty men are not to be dissed lightly. They weren't BORN with ears and noses that shape you know...

Why put something where the people aren't if it is inteneded to be used as much as possible. But the NH stadium would seriously have to address the issue of getting over the bridge.

take the U2 concert, the bus company has been…

I'd attach my name repeatedly to that option.

(Mind you, I'd probably be hunted down and beaten by rugby players.)

The Harbour side get about 5,000 along after winning the Ranfurly shield for christssakes.

It is so far behind the waterfront stadium that its…

Trevor Mallard has LIED to all of you. HE KNOWS that the only way he can get "Trevor Mallard Stadium" on the waterfront is if the general public do not know about the bid made by North Harbour Stadium, which is better than his bid in everyway.

North Harbour Stadium…

How about the design of Stadium New Zealand from this website http://stadiumnewzealand.org/ ? ...

To read more, please click on the chopping cart icon.

http://www.southernkinx.co.nz/

And while we're at it, there's also something brewing at Investigate.

It's below. You have to wade through a very long and tedious passage of windbaggery before you get to the following. But you can't read any more unless you pay them money with your credit card. LOL:

When Dunedin…

A group of Aucklanders has mounted a legal challenge to Rugby World Cup Minister Trevor Mallard's stadium proposal.

Mr Mallard gave Auckland city and regional councils a deadline…

I think it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that it can turn a profit or at least break even. It will draw more to a league test than Mt Smart will so the Kiwis are likely to shift there for tests, and other such things.

The killer is depreciation,…

If the waterfront got that event (which it probably would due to commercial reasons) then you are looking at 8.7 million dollars in ticket sales alone from two days of sport.

So, aside from the wonderful things we may or may not get out a big stadium, and considering 90,000 seats will seemingly be unlikely to pay it's own way in a city of 1.5 million, has anyone mentioned temporary seating?

Well for starters they are looking at a 60,000 seat…

"This promise for the future and the integration of the stadium into an overall plan for Auckland has been an important consideration for all political parties and the various local authorities."

If only that were so! My biggest fear is that as a small…

You know, scaffolding, put it up, use it, take it…

navel, not the new HMNZS Otago.

I've got to argue for a couple of stadiums here that are iconic.

Wembley, the old and the new, possibly the most iconic sports architecture ever, that attracted tourists of its own right.

Past our naval's Wrigley Field in Chicago and Yankee Stadium ar two examples that transend sports…

Yup, that's the best thing about being hooked on P – only 2 sleeps til xmas!

That's hilarious. I'm going to steal it and use it to make people think I'm hip and witty and/or actually on P.

...stick a traffic cone up a tree

Look left next time you go over the Newmarket viaduct heading into the city.

How on earth did someone got that cone on that tree!?

I would actually prefer the quick-n-dirty fix for Eden Park than pouring $400m into a dead venue, if that were possible.

I agree with that. Why has no debate and investigation gone into the minimal cost for Eden Park? Over and above that any option with merit should be able…

Rich, just to be clear, that ratio was for the over-run.

So I make that, based on a mid-point $750mln and assuming 2/3 of the population are taxpayers:

– $146 for each non-Auckland taxpayer
– $383 for each Auckland regional taxpayer
– $1,053 for each Auckland City taxpayer

That's rather a lot of money,…

Surely Aucklanders have spent too much time stalled on their motorways and being grumpy for any clarity of thought....or mebbe it is the spring sap rising......

I guess the additional distance between the site and the CBD transport facilities would only be a little longer than that from the Wellington CBD to their stadium

Just to quickly clarify something. Wellington's transport hub isn't technically in the CBD, it's roughly 400m from the stadium (for trains, a little…

I think the majority of the population actually seems quite happy about the idea.

Isn't it a case of "no stadium, no cup"? I think maybe that the rest of the population is not unhappy about it, rather than say, jubilant.

However, if it will help the cause and for the record, this tax payer is happy for central Government to use it's money to finance the project. I suspect the Government will be carrying most of the liability for cost overruns anyway.

This is one of the ironies of this…

Oddly enough, this dolorousness doesn't occur when it's time to make money out of sub-dividing sections that create infill ugliness right there in their own backyards. Instead of looking…

That's what the ACC site says will be necessary.

hmm, I stand corrected, oh well I guess we will see on Friday what the final outcome of this all is,

Ambiguity is the price I pay for writing in haste. What I meant was that I see them tossing it largely back to the promoters, who in the absence of civic largesse might reaquaint themselves with the temporary seating option.

The trust board is currently holding out its hand for…

Don, no snide sneer at Wellington intended. what I was getting at was that in this case it's being called a National Stadium, which implies it will be treated, funding-wise

Ok, not sure that the CakeTin or Jade received the same largesse. Just ask Karori Sanctury how they benefitted from…

If by "resolution" you mean "agree to it", then that's probably not too difficult. If you mean "come up with the money", there's no chance. The NZRFU will probably lose money on the World Cup, and the IRB traditionally grasps every cent it can get. The trust board will squeal…

And no, I don't think they should name anything (except maybe the ablution block) after him.

What's the chance they call it the Mallard Stadium? I mean, since we lost the hallowed Mallard Stand some time ago (are they related?)

Assuming you're not being ironic, that was the Millard Stand at Athletic Park.

So I am not sure it is true to say they will need an RMA suspension

That's what the ACC site says will be necessary.

I presume you are still aware the the proposed upgrade to Eden Park requires "a suspension of the democratic process and RMA" as well.

Hang on, havent eden park been working through the standard process till now, with the assumption that they would end up with having to go to…

I predict they will try to push the Government into making the IRB or NZRFU dig deep to come up with an 80 million dollar resolution of the 12,000-odd seat shortage for the final.

I would actually prefer the quick-n-dirty fix for Eden Park than pouring $400m into a dead…