August 29th, 2010

And it’s all because of Bill. In case you were not aware that’s the nickname of the Webb Ellis Trophy – the Cup I’m looking at below.

The same one that all those qualifying rugby teams from around the globe will be playing for next year in New Zealand at the Rugby World Cup 2011, with 2 official matches right here at our newly upgraded Trafalgar Park, in Nelson.

Nelsons upgraded Trafalgar Park was opened officially yesterday morning, jointly by Nelson Mayor Kerry Marshall…..

……….and local Nelson Member of Parliament, Dr Nick Smith.

New Zealands RWC 2011 supremo, Martin Sneddon was also there, and mentioned “fond” memories of playing on the field back in the mid 1980’s, when as the skies got darker, cars were quickly assembled on the embankments, with all then turning on their headlights to assist with the completion of the game.

Whats World First?

Trafalgar Parks turf has been growing nicely thank you to the $7.4m upgrade, for the last 6 months on top of what is a world first for a Rugby playing field. Glass! Yes a bed of Glass.

Underneath that green stuff is a base of crushed glass, no not as those science boffins know that silica is, I’m talking about real crushed glass.

The chap from Opus joked that if you look at it finely enough you can make out the Heineken, Speights Old Dark and Tui bottles from their obvious respective colours.

Opus were the main project managers, working alongside many other local architects and suppliers. In fact this point was made loud and clear by Mayor Marshall who indicated the council had a massive preference to source the work locally wherever possible.

2,800,000kg of the stuff

While thanking the government for their $1.5m contribution, Mayor Kerry Marshall, mentioned sustainability as the cornerstone of the new Trafalgar Park upgrade where 2,800,000 kg of recycled glass was used to make the playing field, thats 7% of the total amount of glass accumulated in one year in the South Island.

He also mentioned the Cricket Pitch that was a feature in the middle of the old Trafalgar Park, had also been recycled.

Fittingly, 40 m2 of that dirt, including its foundation Waikari clay, (“best stuff to use for a cricket pitch” – according to Mayor Marshall) has been transferred up to Nelson Boys College, the birthplace of Rugby in NZ.

Related photos about this here.

I suggest fittingly considering their links to the establishment of the game of rugby in New Zealand.
One of the understated features of the new glass sand, is that in each of the coming 30 years (that’s how long the Mayor said it should last) any top-ups required to maintain the grounds “as new” can be completed with almost scientific precision. The reason why is that the original composition is documented so clearly its almost like a recipe out of a cooking book, so apparently relatively easy to top up / replace, and match the exact same grading of the sand particles.

Local Member of Parliament, Nick Smith mentioned in his speech that he believed Kiwi’s really hadn’t grasped the enormity of the coming 2011 Rugby World Cup. To highlight this he said it was the 3rd biggest sporting event in the world. To put it in perspective, he added New Zealand will probably not see an Olympic Games, and it was just as unlikely that a FIFA Football World Cup would grace our shores either.

So this World Cup will be, and quite possibly will stand in history, as the largest sporting event ever to take place in New Zealand.

Nelson Bays/Marlboroughs own Mako’s have a few home games here this year.

Lets home they repeat the formula shown last weekend……………

where they beat last years defending champions, Canterbury, 27 to 25.