Most people who travel to Rome will pay a visit to the Colosseum. Building was completed in 80 AD and part of the largest ancient amphitheatre ever built still stands in its original location. Millions have been spent restoring and preserving it.
Why am I starting a rugby column by talking about the Colosseum? The trigger was a media conference hosted by Stormers and Western Province (WP) bosses about the negative effect a bid led by former Springbok captain Wynand Claassen to have Newlands declared a heritage site could have on rugby in the Cape.
Riaan Oberholzer, appointed administrator of WP by the SA Rugby Union (Saru) when the union went under administration, told us that if the move to have the old stadium declared a heritage site succeeded it would lead to WP ceasing to exist. The union wouldn’t then be able to profit from the R200m or so that they’d receive for the sale of Newlands, money they need to offset their substantial debt, and they’d also have to keep paying for the upkeep.
Oberholzer showed how little he knows about English football by getting his facts mixed up. Apart from Anfield never being Arsenal’s home ground, which he initially stated to much laughter, the Gunners’ move from Highbury might not have been the best example to refer to. Part of the old West and East stands, because they were “listed”, are part of the residential development known as Highbury Square that now stands on the site of the old stadium.
Yet his point is valid. Nick Hornby’s book Fever Pitch, written during the Highbury years, spoke of the great attachment Arsenal supporters had to the venue. But most of Highbury has gone, and Arsenal fans have moved on since the last football game was played there in 2006.
White Hart Lane, the former home of Arsenal’s derby rivals Tottenham Hotspur, was demolished at the end of the 2016/2017 season. Athletic Park in Wellington, where the aforementioned Claassen led the Boks to victory in the second Test of the 1981 series, was demolished in 1999. A retirement village now stands on that site.
I made several visits to Athletic Park during the 1990s. You could feel the history there, but it was also dilapidated. Like Newlands was and is. The new stadium, in the city, is much better. Just like Cape Town Stadium is a far more modern and user-friendly stadium than Newlands had become.
Newlands was denied a Test match on the 2009 British & Irish Lions tour because of safety concern. Those same concerns prevented it from being considered as a venue for the 2010 Fifa World Cup. Newlands did not satisfy the requirements of World Rugby when SA was bidding for the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
To revamp Newlands would have cost R150m to R300m. Not that it is really necessary now to remember why the move from Newlands was made. It has become irrelevant because anyone thinking rugby can return to Newlands is living in Cloud Cuckoo Land. WP is contracted to the City of Cape Town to play in Greenpoint for the next 30 years.
That bus has left the station, so what value is there in preserving Newlands? That’s where the Colosseum analogy comes in. Considerable finances are channelled into preserving what remains of the Colosseum because it is a tourist attraction that brings in money.
But Newlands isn’t an ancient stadium that was built 2,000 years ago. It doesn’t even look like it did in the 1950s. It was modernised several times. For the heritage site to pay for itself, it would surely require people to pay good money to visit it. You’d be prepared to pay that to go to the Colosseum, but not to a place that looks like what it is — a reminder of the 1980s.
It is hard to imagine visitors to Cape Town waking up one morning and thinking “So what should we do today, go up the mountain or should we go to Newlands? Have we got the R300 for the entry fee to Newlands?”
And if it doesn’t make money, what do the nostalgia crew get out of having Newlands preserved. Do they pop in one afternoon during their next visit to Cape Town to have a picnic on the grass while sipping champagne and thinking of past glories?
“Past” is the operative word here. The new generation coming through doesn’t care much for Newlands. The new stadium is modern and vibrant, the Stormers players love playing there. It could all go to mud though if Newlands saps finances by becoming a giant museum glorifying a past only some were part of.
By all means, put up a small memorial in the Newlands precinct reminding people that this was once the site of the famous rugby ground. But don’t do more than that, and don’t draw out the process to the point that WP rugby ceases to exist. Forcing a rugby union to go under because of nostalgia is as selfish as any thought of preserving Newlands is impractical and ridiculous.
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