The Star: March 14, 2019

The Star Thursday March 14 2019
THE NRL match between the
Warriors and Manly Sea Eagles
at Christchurch Stadium on
March 30 is expected to bring an
economic benefit to the city of
nearly $6 million.
Going on last year’s figures,
where 17,300 watched the match
between the two teams in
Christchurch, a similar crowd
will ensure city businesses will
again reap the benefits.
Last year, 5331 fans from
outside Christchurch travelled
to watch the match, including
900 from Auckland, 300 from
greater Wellington and 120 from
Australia.
Justin Wallace, of Walco
Events, promoters of the match,
said the financial impact that
matches such as this have on
Christchurch’s economy should
not be under-estimated.
“There is the direct benefit
for the hospitality and
accommodation sectors and
others such as taxi drivers. Then
there is the indirect benefit from
the television exposure that
Christchurch receives from the
live telecast,” he said.
“The Warriors have been in
great early season form, so we
are confident they will start
strongly and still be unbeaten
by the time they arrive in
Christchurch.”
Manly are a different team this
year under double grand-final
winning coach Des Hasler and
won’t be an easy side to play.
“Last year’s game was a night
to remember and ticket sales
show that Christchurch people
love big events and seeing some
news online at www.star.kiwi
Manly v Warriors: Equals $$
of the biggest NRL stars in
action. There are still good seats
left and we suggest people not
leave it to the last few days and
risk missing out,” said Wallace.
Once again, Manly will wear
a special Ngāi Tahu-inspired
playing strip for the match.
Also at stake is the
Broadhurst-Shelford Trophy,
READY FOR
BATTLE:
Former Manly
now Warriors
player, Blake
Green (left), and
Manly captain
Daly Cherry-
Evans with the
Broadhurst-
Shelford
Trophy.
which recognises two former
Canterbury greats, Mark
Broadhurst and Adrian Shelford,
who represented Manly in the
1980s and 1990s, and started
their careers in Christchurch.
•The match kicks off
at 5pm. Tickets can be
purchased at www.ticketek.
co.nz
SPORT 39
in brief
Waimairi ends
Cashmere dominance
Waimairi defeated Cashmere
to win the Canterbury
premier interclub tennis
title on Saturday. The win
ended Cashmere’s run of five
successive titles. Playing at
home, Waimairi won the two
opening doubles ties to seize
the initiative. Harry Weeds
pegged back a tie for Cashmere
by defeating Glen Wilson in
three sets. However, Waimairi
secured the title when Matthew
Alexander defeated Cashmere’s
Matt Meredith in straight sets.
Maiden national title
for Katherine Camp
Katherine Camp brought to
an end the seven year reign of
Angie Petty as senior women’s
800m champion to land her
maiden national title in the
New Zealand Track and
Field Championships at Nga
Puna Wai. The 27-year-old is
enjoying the form of her life
and was content to stalk the
front-running Petty for much
of the race until launching her
winning strike down the home
straight. Camp followed up
the effort by also winning the
women’s 1500m title.
Bring back Canterbury Draught for the fans
AT LAST commonsense looks
set to prevail. After a shock move
in 2014 to dress the Canterbury
Kings in purple and gold,
our twenty20 cricketers are
understood to be returning to
red and black next summer.
The move to purple and gold
made no sense to me at the
time, but the move back to out
traditional red and black has got
me thinking what else we could
do to increase the passion we
show for our Canterbury teams.
Let’s look at the deep and
dark pathway to find how we’ve
gone from sell-out crowds and
100,000 people lining Colombo
St for a Crusaders victory parade
in the 1990s to now struggling
to more than half fill our 18,000-
seat tent in Addington, even
though where watching arguably
the greatest Crusaders team of all
time. I’ve come to the conclusion
that there’s been a steady drop
off in our passion to rally behind
our teams since the untimely
death of ‘our beer’ – Canterbury
Draught.
My first memories of watching
rugby and cricket at a boisterous
One-eyed Cantab
Gordon Findlater
gordon.findlater@starmedia.kiwi
Lancaster Park are filled with
the sight of Canterbury Draught
flying into the air every time a
Mexican wave made its way to
the old concrete embankment.
Those were the glory days.
We had our team and we had
‘our beer’. But the Canterbury
Brewery was destroyed in the
February 22, 2011, earthquake,
and we lost our brewery, then we
lost ‘our beer’ after production
of Canterbury Draught outside
of Christchurch by Lion Nathan
was ceased.
Now the die hard Canterbury
fan who refuses to develop a
palette for local craft beer is
forced to cheer on his beloved
team while downing a pint of
Otago, West Coast or Auckland
beer.
The Canterbury Rugby
Union has tried its best to fool
us into developing a passion
for their phantom red and
black Crusaders beer on sale
at the tent. However, we can’t
be tricked into developing a
connection with Monteith’s – a
West Coast beer – dressed in
red and black for marketing
purposes. One region that
doesn’t face this issue of
disconnect is Otago. Highlanders
fans are able to drown in their
‘pride of the south’ Speight’s,
which sports the blue and gold
colours of their home. Is it a
coincidence the Highlanders
averaged a crowd size of 15,667
in 2018 – the highest of any NZ
franchise?
As sport fans we’ve had it
rough post-quake in Canterbury.
We’ve been denied a proper
stadium but it’s time to say we
want ‘our beer’ back. It can be
done. Lion recently revived its
presence in Christchurch with
The Fermentist. Load up the vats
with Canterbury Draught!
THE ONLY NRL GAME
IN THE SOUTH ISLAND
5PM SAT 30 MAR
CHRISTCHURCH STADIUM
Grab your tickets at
ticketek.co.nz now!