Page 314 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 31 May 1989
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athletics track is and obviously something will have to be done there. I will come back to that in a minute.
Firstly, let me take the problem with the dead ball line. It is very important - and I can say this as an ex-player - when you are playing either rugby league or rugby union to have a reasonably sized dead ball line. You do not want something only about five metres because of the nature of the game, and especially now with the prevalence of the bomb in rugby league.
Mr Wood: It might be a good idea to get rid of the bomb.
MR STEFANIAK: It might open the game a bit; you might be right there. However, anyone involved in either of those codes would agree you need something more than about a five metre dead ball line. However, people who know the Bruce Stadium know that there is a long jump facility down at the southern end. I am reliably told by the athletics people that that could be easily moved. There is an extended finger there on the southern end leading up to that long jump area which athletes use and which can indeed be grassed. You would get an extra 40 or 50 metres of use, length-wise on that field, thus covering any problems in relation to the dead ball area.
We then come back to the problem of the sideline. For the games that have been played there synthetic material has been put on the sideline. I know there is a problem perhaps with some synthetic material. Indeed, if players are tackled outside the field of play on to material, that can cause burns. However, technology has advanced to the extent that grass could be put down on a temporary basis, perhaps on some cover over the sideline, to ensure the protection of players. I am also reliably informed by the Deputy Chief Minister, and I have no reason to doubt it, that certainly five metres of turf would be needed over the sideline to ensure player protection. That, I would submit, Mr Speaker, can adequately be done without the necessity of ripping up the running track. Therefore, one has to examine whether there is a need to rip up the running track.
Football matches throughout the world are played on areas where there are athletic tracks, and there are a couple of major fields in New Zealand where test matches have been played within athletic stadiums. If that running track is not ripped up and if some other arrangements can be made, there will be considerable savings in the move and the relocation of the Raiders there, especially to the community. It looks as if the community will have to foot that bill unless there are some other indications to the contrary, with significant savings to the Raiders themselves.
People who are very much in favour of the move there and of ripping up the track have said that it would be better as a spectacle if the track were ripped up. I somewhat query
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