Had the Rugby World Cup come to South Africa in 2023, which it nearly did, Newlands would not have been on the playing roster had it still been the home of Western Province and the headquarters of rugby in Cape Town.
So says Rian Oberholzer, who headed up the 2023 RWC bid that narrowly lost out to France five years ago. According to Oberholzer, the stadium didn’t suit World Rugby requirements and couldn’t form part of the South African bid. He was backing up Danny Jones, the general manager of Amateur Rugby in Western Province, who earlier explained that one of the driving reasons for professional rugby in the Cape being switched to the DHL Stadium was because safety requirements dictated that Newlands would have had to undergo a revamp costing anything from R150-million to R300-million.
It was because Newlands didn’t meet certain safety requirements that it was denied a test match during the 2009 tour by the British and Irish Lions and was why it was passed over, with Cape Town Stadium in Greenpoint (DHL Stadium) being built instead, by the committee that assessed venue suitability for the 2010 Fifa World Cup.
Oberholzer is now the Administrator appointed by SARU to oversee the financial recovery of Western Province Rugby after the national body was forced to step in to revive the cash strapped body during October 2021. In a press release issued early on Thursday, Oberholzer stated that the sustainability of WP rugby depended on the sale of the Newlands stadium, a process that is being held up by a bid by a group headed by former Springbok captain Wynand Claassen to have the stadium declared a heritage site.
“We were quite far down the line on the sale of Newlands last year, with the independent process we ran with independent property developers far advanced, when the bid by Wynand brought a halt to proceedings,” said Oberholzer.
“It was understandable that the companies we were negotiating with came back and said they could not proceed until the heritage situation has been resolved.”
WOULD BE END OF WP RUGBY
Oberholzer didn’t mince words at Thursday’s press conference at the DHL Stadium. He said that if the heritage application was successful, or if the process of putting it out to public participation dragged on for too long, it would mean the demise of WP rugby.
“It will be the end of WP rugby, for where is the money going to come from if Newlands isn’t sold? That obviously has a big effect on the company and on the Stormers. It is important to build on the success of the Stormers, but that is going to be held up or ended if the heritage application is successful.
“Let me be clear, the Stormers will never play at Newlands again. We have a 30 year agreement with the city to play games there. So even if the heritage application is successful, one thing that can never happen is that we go back there. Who is going to pay for the upkeep? It belongs to WP and was mothballed several years ago.
“If the ill-informed process to turn it into a heritage site goes through it will be so detrimental to WP rugby that we will never dig ourselves out of the situation. I can’t see the benefits to be derived by those who are pushing for this. What are they going to do with Newlands if the application is successful? Turn it into a museum? SA Rugby had a very good museum at the V and A Waterfront that had to be closed down because it made no money.”
DRIVEN BY NOSTALGIA
Oberholzer said that the move to turn Newlands into a heritage site was driven by the nostalgia of some people and questioned whether it was right to put nostalgia before the survival of a rugby union.
“We’ve seen this happen in other sports, teams and clubs moving out of a stadium because progress dictates that they should do so. In English football, Arsenal moved from Highbury to their new stadium, and Highbury was demolished to make space for a housing estate,” said Oberholzer.
Stormers coach John Dobson backed up what Oberholzer said.
“Many people will know that my late dad (Paul Dobson) wrote a book about the history of Newlands, and he used to say he’d never come here (to DHL Stadium),” said Dobson.
“And I was of similar ilk for a while, but the transition has been spectacular. From a team perspective everyone is happy here. These guys have no affiliation with Newlands now and no special memories of the stadium,” said Dobson.
“In fact some hail from a heritage that was excluded from that stadium for a long time, or pushed into certain areas of the stadium. If we get 31 000 people for a game here on 23 December you know people want to come here, and Frans (Frans Malherbe) and Kitsie (Steven Kitshoff) are really our only current players who have really experienced much history at Newlands.
“The reason I am sitting here (at this press conference) is because I know the consequences of not selling the stadium. It will be catastrophic for us if Newlands is not sold. I don’t see how we will survive in the professional era if it is not sold.
“You can talk about nostalgia, but surely the most important thing is that rugby thrives and survives. If going the way the Southern Kings did is in the interests of rugby, then that is hogwash,” he added.