EDEN PARK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 123, 27 May 1930, Page 16

EDEN PARK.

• - A CHEQUERED CAREER. CRICKET CLUB'S ENTERPRISE. HISTORY OF DEVELOPMENT. (By RUGBY-CRICKETER.) The development of Eden Park is still only in its infancy, but changes ihave come so continuously that it is interesting to look back and recall the stages through which the ground has passed. Its official history as a sports (ground belongs to this century, but -casual cricket and football were played there long before 1900. In the early years of this century the ground was bought by the Eden Cricket Club, in many ways the most enterprising sports club yet seen in Auckland. For it not only faced the task of beginning to lick the ground into shape, but it also introduced the great English professional A. E. Relf to local cricket. The club struggled manfully for some years, but the 1907 'flood raised problems that were beyond the power of any club to solve. This flood would have ruled out the park as a playing area had not the activities of the Auckland Drainage Board shortly afterwards solved the problem. The Drainage Board's sewer was not designed to carry much flood water, but the excavating of the trench through the rock. opened the way _to f fissures in the rock, while the refilling < of the trench with broken stone left it ; acting as an efficient channel. Conse- ] quently the park has never since been i flooded for more than, a few hours, al- J though rain almost as heavy as that of , 19.07 has fallen on a number of occasions. ( :. The set-back to the Eden Cricket I Club, however, necessitated a reorgani- , sation. The Auckland Cricket Associa- ' lion was not in a position to shoulder j the burden, but the ground was saved , by the public spirit of some gentlemen, i who took over both liabilities and j assets, raised money for improvements ] and acted as informal trustees for the ] Cricket Association. ~ About the same time as these arrangements were being made the Auckland Rugby Union's j tenure of Alexandra Park, known as i Potter's Paddock, was drawing to a i close.' The A.R.U. was--givenvan oppor- . tunity of buying Alexandra - Park, but j could not see its way clear to; finance ] the operation. It, therefore, accepted ( the natural alternative,.a lease of Eden i Park for the winter months, .the ground j continuing to be used for cricket in the , summer. The playing area was far < from perfect, and the cricket pitch in the middle became particularly adhesive { in wet weather, but the arrangement i worked smoothly enough and would < have improved in time, but the period j of the Great War saw the financial position go from bad to worse. Neither foot- j ball nor cricket had any income and the ground was kept in a state of suspended animation by the patience of the mortgagees, the confidence ot the owner-trustees and the annual subscriptions of ground members. After the war ? the gate takings increased, but progress j in draining and improving the turf, and , in providing accommodation for specta- . tors, was.necessarily slow. j Confidence in the ground was lacking ] in many quarters;' some thought it could ; never carry a first-class turf, others , that it would not accommodate a first- i class crowd. It may be remarked here 1 that the turf at Potter's Paddock was , really good, but anyone who played on ~ it at all regularly will remember: occasions when the playing area showed ] more mud than grass; the ground at : Potter's was also flat, so that provision , for a big crowd could only be made by I erecting stands, as was done in 1903, • when Bedell-Sivwright's team visited ! Auckland. The hill at Eden Park pro- ; vides natural facilities for watching the : game, but the misgivings came to a < head in 1921, when the South African ; team was due to play here. Controversy ; waxed warm, but the matches were i played there on the. understanding that : the proceeds from the matches should , be spent on improving accommodation, and that an effort should be made to enable the Rugby Union to obtain a : more permanent interest in the ground. ' The owner ibrustess spent more on the ground before the matches than was received in percentages' of takings, but they were repaid by the proof of the ground's capacity for accommodating a crowd. At the Test match 26,000 were present, and. the only difficulty arose from a small part of the crowd encroaching on the flat where they lost "their view, although the hill behind them was not full. Formation since carried out has probably added at least 10,000 to the capacity of the ground. between the owner trustees, the Cricket Association and the Rugby Union followed, and continued for some three years before finality was reached. The agreement reached provided that in return for the Rugby Union paying in a certain sum and cancelling its lease,; the owner trustees declared themselves,: formal trustees, holding the ground for': the benefit of cricket in summer and Rugby football in winter. The ground.now belongs to the Cricket Association-:' Rugby Uniohi - and is; managed a Board-of Control,' compbsed" of ■representatives of these two bodies. and, of the trustees. Immediately after the deed.of trust was completed the park experienced the oni piece :of good fortune which has befallen its chequered career. The art union boom was on, and.the park shared one of the more successful raffles with tennis and golf, the useful sum of £ 10,000 being obtained for improvements. The money was spent partly.on the (playing area and partly on forming the hill and :providing terraces, paths, fences and other accommodation for the spectators. Much remains to be done, but the revenue has been buoyant enough to enable minor improvements to be made each year. Increases to "stand" accommodation can hardly be carried out this way and sooner or later the problem will have to be tackled. Many of the best grounds in other countries receive sufficient from ground members' passes to pay off the stands built for them and maintain the ground as well, and there is no reason why this position should not be reached at Eden Park within the next 20 years.

The ground owes much to many old sports and the late Mr, Norman Williams' will always,be remembered' as ;6ne of the most generous of the Eden Cricket Club,'then as one of the owner trustees and lastly as trustee and first chairman of the Board of Control. Many "Rugby-cricketers" have been active in support of the ground. The chairman''.of 'trustees, Mr. Ered Earl; the chairman of the Board of Control, Mr. Dan Clayton; the secretary, Mr. Carlton Hay; another trustee, Mr. Douglas Hay, and Mr. Jack Arneil and Mr. Bob Lusk, members of the board, all represented the province in both football and cricket in years gone by, and probably many of • the officials in future will bo equally interested in the summer and winter games.