Pioneer Stadium mooted as tennis venue

Press, 22 October 1980, Page 42

Pioneer Stadium mooted as tennis venue

By

JOHN BROOKS

Although several imponderables hang over New Zealand’s Davis Cup plans, the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association is pressing the claims of the Pioneer Stadium as the venue for an indoor tie next July. The chairman of the C.L.T.A. management committee, Mr Colin Hunt, said yesterday he was confident that the stadium would meet the national body’s basic requirements in respect to court area and seating capacity. A contest between Italy and New Zealand would be a great drawcard, he said,

and such a tie would result in the stadium’s being filled to capacity.

The plans behind a Christchurch bid for the tie are a little indefinite because of the hurdles still in front of the New Zealand team. Under the new format for the Davis Cup, New Zealand first has to get past Korea on the clay courts of Seoul. Then, if successful, it will have to face either Italy or Britain at home in July — which is why the call for an indoor venue has gone out. However, the N.ZL.T.A. has asked both the Italian

and British controlling bodies of tennis whether they would be prepared to bring the dates forward to the New Zealand autumn. It has suggested two periods in April as zJtematives.

Whichever way the decision goes, Christchurch will be strongly in the running ] for slection as a venue. It has been the site of three j cup ties in the last two sea- i sons, and the Wilding Park i grass would be a warm 1 favourite if the second 1

round match was to be played outdoors in April. There is even a faint possibility that a tie might be played outdoors in July. If the winter weather in 1981 followed a similar pattern to

this year’s, it would be feasible’to play on grass, Mr Hunt said. However, the surest course of action at present is to plan around the original dates, and the Canterbury association is doing its homework diligently, ft has

had discussions with the City Council, and advised the N.Z.L.T.A. of its intentions; eventually it hopes to present a formal application to the national body. Mr Hunt said that two indoor courts would have to be laid, one for practice and one for the cup matches, and scaffold seating would need to be erected, as a crowd, of at least 2500 a day is expected. He described the seating arrangements as “not a great problem.” The Canterbury association once owned an indoor court; it was used for the Benson and Hedgeq inter-

national tournament in Cowles Stadium in 1974 and later sold to Auckland University. Now it might have to borrow it back — for a fee, of course. Palmerston North and Dunedin, both of which have large stadiums under construction, are also in the race, and both are hopeful that their buildings will be completed in time. However, Canterbury has officials who are experienced in running cup ties. That factor, Mr Hunt observed, gave Canterbury an important edge ever Manawatu and Otago.