Showgrounds’ state defended by league

Press, 1 September 1989, Page 48

Showgrounds’ state defended by league

By

JOHN COFFEY

The Canterbury rugby league championship grand final between Addington and Marist-Western Suburbs on Sunday could be the last game played at the Addington Show Grounds this season. Both playing fields were a quagmire after last week-end’s round of lower grade finals on Saturday and premier play-offs on Sunday — a total of six matches on each ground. Already the Canterbury Rugby League is making arrangements for the annual Thacker Shield fixture against the West Coast champion and the Gore Cup (bottom four) final to be held at Denton oval on September 10.

The weather over the next 10 days will dictate where the Canterbury home games in the national Lion Red knockout tournament are played. Canterbury’s top qualifier has a home draw against the winner of the Otago-Southland elimination, and the second quali-

fier travels to the West Coast, on September 17. Bevan Olsen, the Canterbury board of control chairman, conceded yesterday that the main playing field was only slightly improved from its sorry state of last Sunday. “It is a bit better, but no miracles have happened,” he said. The 19years grand final, which was to have been the curtain-raiser to Addington’s match with MaristWestern, has been transferred to the No. 2 field. Mr Olsen defended the decision to play the lower grade games at the Show Grounds.

"I’m sorry it happened, but there are no regrets. We have thousands of rugby league players in Canterbury and they are all entitled to their day at headquarters. The weather is something we cannot control. “There would have been more criticism if we had moved them away, as happened a few years ago. Teams travelled from Timaru and Kaikoura, and the councils had

ruled out almost all of the other grounds,” he said. Nor was it possible to delay the grand final — “that would be unfair to the two teams preparing for it, and the West Coast because the Thacker Shield would have to be put back until late October.”

“Whether we played six matches or only one on the Show Grounds last-week-end would not have made any difference. It was as bad after the first game as it was after the sixth,” said Mr Olsen. Extensive work has been planned for the Show Grounds surface after the Agricultural and Pastoral Association’s show in November. Mr Olsen said the layer of mud lies atop a “concretelike” pan which has prevented surface water from reaching the drains. Rugby league officials were thankful the forecast sleet did not arrive yesterday. But the long-range forecast is for cold, showery conditions today and tomorrow, with a fine day on Sunday.