Rugby historian invites Lancaster Park Museum in new stadium

Shane O’Driscoll hopes that notable moments from before the earthquake will appear in Lancaster Park in a new museum honoring the stadium. Photo: John Cosgrove

Lancaster Park is back in the green and now the adopted Cantabrian who documented the history of the land wants the new Christchurch stadium to honor its illustrious predecessor, Canterbury Rugby, through a museum. Shane O’Driscoll details his plan for Chris Barkley.

He’s from Timaru and supported Otago from the bank during an epic Ranfurly Shield clash in 1994, but there’s no doubting where Shane O’Driscoll’s regional loyalties are now.

“It’s a good result, they’ve done a good job,” he said, gazing through the wire fence at Stevens St, to the right of the bulkhead protecting the air-strike, peeling memorial gates set for a $500,000 renovation.

Returning to green space after liquefaction, Lancaster Park is a vast park in line with its designation under the Lancaster Park Festing Act of 2008, which restricts land use for sports, recreation and public gathering.

In contrast to Wellington Sports Park, which now houses a retirement complex, Lancaster Park has been protected as a recreational venue, to the delight of O’Driscoll, who developed and curated the Lancaster Park Memories Facebook page and lancasterpark.co.nz dedicated to the Christchurch Castle sports memorial.

The 51-year-old started his research because he used to run around the area when the land was ruled demolished.

“I’ve always studied rugby history no matter what and felt the need to preserve some Lancaster Garden moments. It felt like there was a bit of a connection there.”

He was surprised to find that it was also a versatile facility, like its eventual replacement.

“There were harness racing, biking, ballooning, camping, all that kind of thing in the early days.

“She has such a diverse history, it’s incredible. They tried everything… athletics, they had a squash court and a swimming pool.”

With research conducted online, O’Driscoll now has a new project in mind, spearheading the creation of a museum documenting the earth’s diverse and varied history.

Peek at his blog entries at lancasterpark.co.nz and the latest post that brings back Pope John Paul II’s pilgrimage to Earth in November 1986, nearly a century ago with a gas-lighting and new angled asphalt path that allowed the Pioneer and Christchurch cycling club to hold nightly meetings.

However, rugby would dominate the museum which, ideally, would take some pride in the Te Kaha/Canterbury Multi-Use Arena.

O’Driscoll has an ally at the Canterbury Rugby Football Union Historical Trust, a dedicated group of wise old rugby chiefs who spend their Tuesdays collecting and cataloging related memorabilia in a room tucked away in the aging platform of Rugby Park.

He witnessed the Fund’s work for the first time last year, and is convinced that it deserves a wider audience, that is, an audience.

“They haven’t been able to find a home since the earthquakes. I started a project to help them find a place to display their stuff. They got every show from Lancaster Park from day one.

“They have a lot of souvenirs, balls, T-shirts, programs and souvenirs and none have been shown. They are the salt of the earth, all volunteers do it out of personal passion.”

Visitors to Canterbury Headquarters and the Crusaders can view Super Rugby memorabilia in the lobby and other memorabilia; Other historical materials are displayed upstairs and in the office space.

O’Driscoll, who traces his certified red and black roots to a post-university accounting job at another earthquake victim, the Canterbury draft beer, argues that chest stock should be on display.

“This is where I’m headed. They need a sponsor for the idea, and then you open a case and get pledges and donations.

City Council should be nearby, with O’Driscoll noting that a Christchurch counterpart in Dunedin is instrumental in the New Zealand Sports Hall of Fame moving into a renovated wing of the old railway station from 1999.

Private sponsors also rolled the ball before it opened in 1990.

“I think it’s a model you can do if the board supports you, and the obvious place is the new stadium,” said O’Driscoll, who admitted that the game plan needed to be worked out.

“In my opinion I’m a bit biased because I like all of those things, but how big is the market? How many visitors will you get except on match day?”

You must update it.

You can’t make the audience go once and say, “I’ve been there.” You will need subjects and rotate them every six months. You have to make it interactive with touch screens and that kind of thing.”

Take the Monster Spirit Home at Thomond Park in Limerick.

When the grounds, which opened in 1934 from 2006 to 2008, were redeveloped, it included a full tour of the stadium, a visit to the museum, and entry to the house and outdoor dressing rooms.

Needless to say, Monster’s 12-0 win over the All Blacks in 1978 is a focal point, a topic that will never be altered.

The cost of the museum and playground tour is €10 ($16) for adults and €8 ($13) for children. On game days, the museum costs $8 and $5 on top of a match ticket.

The chief executive of city council-owned Venues Otautahi, Caroline Harvey-Teare, said a museum could be included in the new stadium.

“There is plenty of space available that can be activated for game days attractions, and the shell and core areas of Te Kaha can be used for more permanent retail rentals in the future. This could include a museum-style attraction among other things,” she said.

“Once Te Kaha opens, the primary goal is for it to be a truly versatile and continue to be well-used, well-loved and powered facility outside of sports and event days.”

O’Driscoll, not a fan of Orangetheury Stadium although he took his daughter to the loss to the Blues on Good Friday, said the new stadium needed innovation to attract fans as rugby’s appeal waned, especially under the lights off the field.

“It’s a shame that things are going with rugby and the fans. The afternoon rugby where they’re going to get 30,000 cars in Lancaster Park seems like a world away, right?”

“There will be a huge effort required to bring them back to the new stadium,” he said.

Gary Tibbouts will be there without hesitation, preferably as a guide to the museum.

Once Covid-19 restrictions eased, Tibbotts returned to work on the east end of the Rugby Park stand, sifting through match programs dating back to the 1930s. There are also videos and DVDs for organizing.

He has Canterbury rugby players Les MacFadden, John Foxy Miles, Jerry Robery, Warren Barberell and Jill Chaffee among his offside cravings.

“We collect, collect and store memorabilia of the history of rugby at Canterbury,” said Tibbouts.

“It’s a treasure trove of photographs, DVDs, videos, software…rugby shirts, more than we can store. You name it, we have what we hope for.”

Tibbotts, 78, would like to see their collection in a museum-style setting, so the county’s proud history of rugby is preserved for posterity.

“Men like me would run it as volunteers. Hand in hand, I would take people with them and remember almost all the history of every picture or show,” he said.

“That’s what you need because people current in rugby know very little about the history of Canterbury rugby.”

Tibbotts reimagines the audio and visual presentations — he transferred a 16mm film of Canterbury’s 9-6 victory over the Springboks in 1956 on DVD — as well as framed T-shirts and pictures of enduring moments.

He said the trust is occupied with inquiries from members of the public and former county representatives.

“We’ve had players from Canterbury and even the All Blacks call us and ask us: ‘Did you get any shots of me playing because my grandchildren don’t think I played for the All Blacks?'”

“We are able to offer them, at no cost, a program, a video, or anything in their career.

“People will call us and say, ‘My dad passed away a few months ago, we cleaned up the garage and found a box of software.

Tibbouts said the Canterbury Rugby Supporters Club and Referees’ Association had memorabilia in their rooms in Lancaster Park, which are now under the auspices of the Trust.

“When the stadium was changed, a lot of space in the judges room was used for corporate dinners and things like that. Before the earthquakes, a lot of these things were removed and never put back in,” he said.

After the earthquakes, memorabilia were originally stored in Wigram before space in the Rugby Garden became available.

“We have the (original) Larry the Lamb costume and there’s just no rugby memorabilia,” Tibbouts said.

There’s a grainy photo of blimp David Mahoney on the verge of taking off in 1899, a trip that ended in tragedy when Oakland – also known as Captain Lorraine – was blown up over Port Hills and lost his parachute (there was no basket these days).

He was last seen in the water near Port Levi, but his body was never found.

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