The two codes representing the round ball and the oval ball should be applauded for the common sense decision to settle on one major ground to showcase their contests. Exactly the opposite is happening in Wellington where the Phoenix Association Footballers want the Lower Hutt ratepayers to install a new more compact venue for them away from the Hurricane headquarters.
Westpac stadium is apparently too large and too flash for the failing football club.
Masterton’s Dixon Street complex is becoming something of a sporting enclave with the adjacent tennis and bowling clubs and a squash club just around the corner.
This is not a first for local rugby. The well-entrenched Red Star and Masterton rugby football club’s amalgamated some years ago with little outward discomfort.
Years before that the racing fraternity saw the impracticality of having three race tracks in the region and hedged their bets on Tauherenikau.
It occurred to me that other organisations might like to take note. Already the three Wairarapa district councils have shown their willingness to join forces and there are lots of others who ought to follow these leads.
First and foremost it’s got to be the golf clubs. I understand there is already dialogue taking place between representatives of the Mahunga and Masterton clubs to consider a merger.
Mind you there has been talk of this for years with neither club being willing to bite the bullet and make a move. It’s likely both clubs will be struggling financially. The park-like grounds are costly to maintain and there will be diminishing memberships due to society being in a hurry and golf being time consuming and expensive.
They should settle on the Lansdowne course. No doubt those crunching the numbers will consider that the Manuka Street site to be very saleable piece of real estate, but it is one of the towns most admired landscapes and it would be a shame to dismantle it. Mahunga is a great course, but has a less attractive lead-in and is skirted by the Waipoua River which is prone to flooding. If Mahunga is indeed a freehold property it could revert back to pasture and be farmed to the economic advantage of a newly combined club.
We then need to move on to the chartered clubs. Three for a town this size is overkill and I suspect they will not have strong balance sheets. Despite living in an egalitarian society the distinctive clientele for these clubs may find barriers to integration. With exceptions there are working men at the Cosmopolitan Club, old soldiers and their descendants at the Services and Citizens Club and business and professional men at the Masterton Club. For the latter, throw in the odd farmer.
I should also add “and women” to all those caucuses; the fairer sex invaded these once exclusive male bastions some years ago.
Well, for the sake of sound economics, the twain are just going to have to meet.
All of these clubs - golf and chartered - have been hit hard by the blitz on drink-driving. Justifiable perhaps, but if we’re not careful we’ll end up with a society that never gets the chance to meet and mingle. The world’s great problems are often solved around convivial tables over a few modest ales and this type of activity will be therapeutic. The risk for future generations is that whole communities will become insular and miss out on the sanity that accompanies companionship.
Now let’s move on. What about those two Showgrounds? Just two annual shows and hectares of land under-utilised for the rest of the year.
Perhaps that’s unfair. Both seem to attract horses and their riders on a fairly regular basis and Claireville has the well-supported hockey complex. Nonetheless there is waste and unnecessary cost and again someone should say: “Let’s settle on one and make it into a ground of national significance.”
I wouldn’t dare nominate which one. Both have been well-maintained and are a credit to their caretakers and management.
Perhaps it’s down to the toss of a coin.
There are all sorts of other options with these mergers. The Masterton Bridge Club for instance might consider selling it premises on the corner of Villa and Pownall Streets and relocate upstairs at the Masterton Golf Club. Sun would stream in all day, the views would be idyllic and their timetable is unlikely to interfere with golfing programmes. They could pay a modest rent that could assist the newly merged Mahunga/Masterton Golf Club to keep subscriptions down.
A static and aging population needs to take stock of its assets and ensure the best ones are maintained for future generations.
Ironically all we’ve done so far is reopen the cemetery gates.
0 comments :
Post a Comment