NEW COVERED STAND PLANNED More Seating At Lancaster Park

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31946, 25 March 1969, Page 17

NEW COVERED STAND PLANNED More Seating At Lancaster Park

The bid by Christchurch to hold the 1974 Commonwealth Games will benefit from developments planned for Lancaster Park by the Victory Park Board.

The next move in the board’s progressive scheme to upgrade the ground is the demolition of the No. 4 stand and the construction of a new covered stand to abut No. 3, which would provide a broad sweep of covered accommodation for spectators on the eastern side of the oval.

It is expected that the new stand will provide 2000 more seats than the existing No. 4. This will give the park a seating capacity of 19,500, of which 13,400 will be under cover. An application for a loan to finance the work has been; made by the Canterbury Rugby Union to the New Zealand Rugby Union, and it is hoped that the task will be completed in time for the Springbok tour of New Zealand in 1973. The attaining of this target will be a boon to Commonwealth Games Promotion (Canterbury), which has earmarked Lancaster Park for the track and field events inj

! its Commonwealth Games; , proposal. Members of the pro-i ’ motion body have met the! : Victory Park Board to discuss, I temporary changes which; ■ would be necessary for the! ' Games athletics to be held; , on the ground. The chairman of the finance and development committee of the board (Mr C. I H. McPhail) said yesterday ‘(that it was proposed to shift ’ back the No. 5 stand and part 'of the embankment to en- ’ able the oval to encompass a ■ 100 metres track, with run- ' through, on the eastern side. Dressing room accommodation under the No. 1 stand would be used and it was . possible that temporary dress-! ing rooms would be erected! , under the No. 3 stand and; ithe new No. 4. The south; ground at the park would be-; come the marshalling area fori Ithe athletes. : It was proposed to erect al: news media stand at the): north-eastern corner, in line' 'with the track finishing mark,; and to increase the tele- ; ' printer accommodation, said; I Mr McPhail. ! The resurfacing of the oval ; for the games athletics might I

mean that some of the later representative Rugby matches in 1973 would have to be played at Rugby Park, said Mr McPhail, who is also president of the Canterbury Rugby Union. “But,” he. added, “it is too early to state this with any certainty, as the dates for resurfacing and replanting the ground are not yet known.” It is planned to hold the games in late January and early February, 1974. i After the games, the ground would have to be rei stored to the condition in which it was taken over, said IMr McPhail. But, he said, the board was unlikely to insist on the conversion of every minor alteration. The board was willing to co-operate with the games body on this point, as long as there was no pecuniary loss to the board’s tenants, principally the Rugby union and the Canterbury Cricket Association. Tight Schedule The vice-president of ComI monwealth Games Promotion I (Mr R. S. Scott) conceded that resurfacing the oval after I the 1973 Rugby season and j the resowing of grass and the I replacement of turf in time (for important cricket matches in March, constituted a tight j schedule. ' But he felt confident that the task could be accomplished. “We have had excellent co-operation from the Victory Park Board; it is prepared to do almost anything to help us,” he said.