The Warriors have spent a historic season earning the right to host the NRL final. Shifting them to Eden Park for a bigger payday would completely miss what makes Mt Smart so important.
It’s not often the Northern Hill at Mt Smart Stadium is packed out with Warriors supporters nowadays. The team’s sold out top-of-the-table clash against Penrith two weeks ago was the first time this season a significant number of supporters sat on the grass. There were even more there last Sunday for the game against the Newcastle Knights. Seeing the flags and banners waving from the hill took me back to the late 2000s when the cheapest Warriors tickets were $15 for a seat on the grass.
On rare occasions, my dad would grab us a couple of tickets and we’d head along to the game, usually worming our way to end up in some spare seats on the slightly more expensive Southern Stand. Whenever the opposition team was within earshot, the old man would start hurling abuse at them, especially whenever the Warriors had scored.
“Get used to it, Cowboys!” I remember him yelling at one game. He banged on the advertising hoarding in front of us and half-caught the attention of Cowboys superstar halfback Jonathan Thurston, who appeared to shake his head and let out his iconic cackle. It’s one of my favourite memories of my dad.
When New Zealanders – particularly league fans of my generation – think about rugby league, we think of Mt Smart Stadium. The city’s newest football team, Auckland FC might’ve moved in, but even they’d admit Mt Smart belongs to the Warriors. It’s the spiritual home of New Zealand rugby league. The All Blacks have Eden Park, the Black Caps have the Basin Reserve, and the Warriors have Mt Smart. Any respectable New Zealand sports fan would acknowledge this.
Imagine then, the disbelief of Warriors fans at the suggestion the National Rugby League may force the team to hold its two finals games at Eden Park. The organising body behind the competition made changes to its finals policy before the start of the season, stipulating it had the right to determine which venue is best to host NRL final series matches. With the Warriors cementing their place in the competition’s top two over the weekend, they are guaranteed at least two home finals games. But, it’s been reported the NRL is considering forcing the games to be played at Eden Park due to its greater capacity, making the NRL more money.
“This ground’s very connected and spiritual to us. As a club and fans, it’s a pretty special place,” Warriors CEO Cameron George told RNZ last week. The rugby league spirit George refers to runs deep in Aotearoa. I was raised a leaguie by my dad, who grew up playing “the greatest game of all” for the Mt Albert Lions. My parents met at the Fowlds Park clubrooms, with my mother’s family also being staunch Mt Albert supporters. No surprise then, I also played league for both Mt Albert and the Hibiscus Coast Raiders in my youth. My father’s mother used to run the tuck shop at Victoria Park, back when it served as the home grounds for the City Newton Dragons team. My maternal grandfather played for the Ponsonby Ponies back in his day. Suffice to say, we’re a family of rugby league enthusiasts, and so are many of my friends and wider family.
Rugby league is the working man’s game. With historical roots in 19th century Northern England, it has long been considered the poor man’s version of the more affluent rugby union. Eventually rugby league was embraced in working class suburbs across New South Wales and Queensland in Australia, and before long it was being played in Aotearoa too. Once here, it became immensely popular among working-class communities and Māori and Pasifika blue-collar workers across New Zealand.
Back in my father’s heyday, Carlaw Park was the spiritual home of rugby league in New Zealand. Built in 1921 specifically for league, the stadium located at the bottom of Parnell Rise hosted a multitude of international rugby league tests, Winfield Cup games, and sold out concerts over its 80 years of operation. Growing up, I remember hearing stories about how special the ground was. My dad would talk about how much of a privilege it was to play there.
Although I can only ever remember it being a car park before being knocked down and developed into high-rise student accommodation, I understood from an early age that Carlaw Park held a special place in the hearts of generations of New Zealand rugby league supporters.
After Carlaw Park was demolished and with the Warriors becoming the nation’s team following their 1995 debut in the Winfield Cup (which later became the National Rugby League), the New Zealand rugby league spirit moved 20 minutes down the Southern motorway to the industrial suburb of Penrose. Mt Smart Stadium – also known as Go Media Stadium, Rarotonga or Te Ipu Kura ā Maki – became the new home of New Zealand rugby league.
Growing up in the 2000s, I first knew Mt Smart Stadium as Ericsson Stadium, with Sony Ericsson holding naming rights from the Warriors’ inaugural 1995 season until 2006. Like generations of Warriors fans, some of my fondest memories are held in those hallowed grounds. Having worked as a statistician for Sky Sports, I’ve spent more time than most at Mt Smart and its surrounds, and have come to know it intimately: the best car parks, back doors, cut-throughs, where to get the best food and cheapest beer. It’s my local. It’s our local.
When the rain started pouring down on Sunday evening, some of the most faithful supporters donned lime green ponchos and braved the conditions to stay and watch their team hold on to their position at the top of the NRL premiership table. Back in the day, we used to leave games early because the Warriors were losing with no hope of a comeback. Nowadays, I sometimes leave early to beat the traffic from the 20-odd-thousand in attendance, and because the Warriors are winning by so much that I’m confident they won’t lose.
Others stay behind to soak it all up. They sing the victory song at the end of the game, patiently wait for the players to sign a jersey or take a photo, and more often than not this season, leave Mt Smart enjoying the sweet taste of victory. Warriors players acknowledge how special it is playing at Mt Smart, and teams fear having to make a trip across the ditch to play there.
The Warriors are having one of the greatest seasons in the team’s history. It’s easily the best they’ve done in the last decade. Sitting atop the premiership table with one round to go, we could see the club claim the minor premiership this weekend for only the second time in its 31-year history. The side has earned home field advantage for at least two finals games, but the prospect of the NRL making the side leave its spiritual home to play at the larger venue of Eden Park is not right.
Beyond the fact the side has won only one of six games (or 17%) it has played at Eden Park compared to its 60% win rate at Mt Smart, there are more intangible arguments to be made for keeping the games at Mt Smart. Reasons that, in the mind of Warriors supporters at least, are far more important than the NRL making more money. Mt Smart is our fortress. It’s what the fans and players know and love. It’s our home – mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. And it’s where the Warriors need to play the finals.
