RUGBY AT AUCKLAND

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 8, 10 July 1926, Page 9

RUGBY AT AUCKLAND

EDEN PARK AMBITIONS.

(By Telegraph.)

(Special to "The Evening Post.") AUCKLAND, This Day. Tho conversion of Eden Park into one of the finest playing grounds in the Southern Hemisphere is the objective of the Auckland Rugby Union, though there is no immediate intention of increasing the capacity of the two stands. Almost £400 has been spent on improvements to the ground during the last two years, and it is estimated that £10,000 wijl be available during the next three or four years as the result of art unions.

Some items in the programme are the formation of the hill (£1500), concrete steps. (£2000), tarring and sanding footpaths (£500), and fences and gates (£750). On the completion of the present scheme provision will be available for seating 15,000 spectators, while the capacity of the whole ground will be between 35,000 and 40,000 (over 26,000 poeple witnessed the second "Springboks" Test in 1921 without packing the hill). With regard to new stands it is proposed to prepare plans for their erection over a series of years as funds become available. The cost of such work may be gauged from Wellington's proposal to erect a concrete stand at an estimated cost of over £30,000, designed to accommodate 6000, or three times more than the capacity of the existing two stands at Eden Park.