36,000 Saw Springboks Play

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30803, 15 July 1965, Page 1

36,000 Saw Springboks Play

Thirty-six thousand spectators were at Lancaster Park yesterday to watch the Springboks humble the New Zealand junior team. This was the official attendance figure given by the Victory Park Board.

It was the second biggest crowd to watch a mid-week game of Rugby at Lancaster Park. On July 2, 1959, 45.000 saw the British Isle’s team beat New Zealand Universities. 25-13. Before that the record crowd for a Wednesday game at Lancaster Park was 34,000, on September 7, 1955. when Canterbury beat Wellington in a Ranfurly Shield game.

The crowd yesterday was very orderly. The ground can now hold 60,000. An estimated 23,000 were on the embankment, and it can hold 36.000 tightly packed. The No. 1 stand was less than half filled. The new stand, No. 3, was the best-filled stand at the match. There were 29 traffic ' officers on duty for the match, | and some traffic offence i notices were issued to latecomers for incorrect parking —some were parked on bus stops.

I The Traffic Superintendent i for the City Council (Mr J. F. . Thomas) said that officers on . duty noticed the tolerance . displayed by motorists and : the public. The attitude was much appreciated by the officers concerned. “The traffic department could handle twice as many

|as attended yesterday,” Mr Thomas commented. Cars were parked up to two miles away from Lancaster Park. They were parked as far away as Gloucester street and Worcester street by Stanmore road, by Edmonds factory in Ferry road, and in Opawa road near the Ensors road intersection. Every small street within a mile radius of the park was jammed with cars and most houses had them in their driveways and on their lawns.

Starting the game at 2.45 p.m. instead of 3 p.m. allowed the bulk of the Rugby traffic to be clear of main roads to the city before the 5-5.30 p.m. traffic peak of workers. After the final whistle, it took half an hour for the park to empty. Traffic at first was particularly slow to get away, and some buses took 40 min-

utes to travel from the park to Cathedral square. One group of men took 25 minutes to walk the same distance. Police reported no trouble on the grounds and there were no anti-apartheid placards. Pamphlets published by the national secretariat of the New Zealand Communist Party were distributed at the gates.

There were 52 policemen on duty at the park. [Reports of match on Page 17]