1
00:00:06,667 --> 00:00:10,507
Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine

2
00:00:10,707 --> 00:00:12,027
Speaker 1: from Newstalk ZEDB.

3
00:00:12,787 --> 00:00:15,387
Speaker 2: As we say goodbye to what was only ever supposed

4
00:00:15,427 --> 00:00:19,587
Speaker 2: to be a temporary venue but has become a fortress

5
00:00:20,147 --> 00:00:23,947
Speaker 2: for the Crusaders and a graveyard really for anyone who

6
00:00:24,027 --> 00:00:28,627
Speaker 2: tried to go there and win seven championship winning seasons

7
00:00:29,107 --> 00:00:31,987
Speaker 2: from twenty seventeen to twenty twenty three inclusive under the

8
00:00:31,987 --> 00:00:34,907
Speaker 2: watch of Scott Robertson of course another one last season

9
00:00:35,427 --> 00:00:37,987
Speaker 2: under Rob Penny, but a place that came to represent

10
00:00:38,747 --> 00:00:43,787
Speaker 2: something far greater than a place to watch the Crusaders.

11
00:00:44,347 --> 00:00:47,467
Speaker 2: It's only when you go to christ Church to watch

12
00:00:47,507 --> 00:00:51,227
Speaker 2: the Crusaders play that you fully realize what this team

13
00:00:51,387 --> 00:00:55,827
Speaker 2: means to its fans. For a city that's had to

14
00:00:55,947 --> 00:01:00,547
Speaker 2: endure so much, the Crusaders have become a uniting force,

15
00:01:00,667 --> 00:01:05,827
Speaker 2: a symbol of togetherness, and they provided a distraction from

16
00:01:05,827 --> 00:01:10,947
Speaker 2: the off and challenging lives of those who inhabit that

17
00:01:11,067 --> 00:01:13,867
Speaker 2: great city. It feels like the new Stadium is the

18
00:01:13,947 --> 00:01:18,747
Speaker 2: final piece in the rebuild puzzle after what they've endured

19
00:01:18,827 --> 00:01:22,667
Speaker 2: in the fifteen years since that dreadful day in February

20
00:01:22,667 --> 00:01:26,347
Speaker 2: twenty eleven, the opening of a new stadium signifies the

21
00:01:26,387 --> 00:01:30,307
Speaker 2: completion of along road back to normality. Christ Church, it

22
00:01:30,347 --> 00:01:35,107
Speaker 2: feels to me, is now complete once more. Now, of course,

23
00:01:35,387 --> 00:01:37,307
Speaker 2: there's a tendency to look at things like this with

24
00:01:37,387 --> 00:01:42,107
Speaker 2: a sense of misty eyed romanticism and overlook the faults

25
00:01:42,787 --> 00:01:47,107
Speaker 2: of Addington but hard to get to, very very cold,

26
00:01:47,187 --> 00:01:51,347
Speaker 2: sometimes short on modern day facilities for the teams, the sponsors,

27
00:01:51,347 --> 00:01:55,947
Speaker 2: the media, the fans. But the legacy of that so

28
00:01:56,107 --> 00:02:00,787
Speaker 2: called temporary stadium will be as significant as what Lancaster

29
00:02:00,867 --> 00:02:06,747
Speaker 2: Park was and what Tekaha will almost certainly become. Of

30
00:02:06,787 --> 00:02:12,947
Speaker 2: difficulty and destruction and despair, Addington brought people together. It

31
00:02:13,027 --> 00:02:17,747
Speaker 2: provided pockets of joy to a city that badly needed them,

32
00:02:18,547 --> 00:02:22,507
Speaker 2: and came to represent much much more than just a

33
00:02:22,507 --> 00:02:24,067
Speaker 2: place to watch a game of rugby.

34
00:02:24,547 --> 00:02:27,707
Speaker 1: For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live

35
00:02:27,827 --> 00:02:31,107
Speaker 1: to News Talk sed B weekends from midday, or follow

36
00:02:31,147 --> 00:02:32,747
Speaker 1: the podcast on iHeartRadio.