Bloke

The problem is that racing clubs are not experts on property development or even straight forward property purchases. In the case of Race, they were "know it all's" and should have at a minimum sought advice from experts in the property development field and for significant property transactions they should have always sought final approval from members. In the case of Hastings, it is pleasing that they are consulting their members something The Wellington Racing Club never did for the 20 plus years that I was a member. In the case of Hastings, I think that the proposal can work if they hire the right people and not try to be the experts on property which they are not.

Depends on what you would judge as a good crowd Mikey. Cup Day at Addington used to attract 20k plus but in recent years maybe 7k?

Playing numbers in Wellington have plummeted on what they were say 30 years ago. What were once large clubs are now a fraction of that size yet amazingly; I see that Wellington have won The NPC twice in the last three years. So what does that say about the remainder of the NPC teams.

I have told this story before but just in case, I will repeat it. A couple of years ago i went to my local at the Belle Vue in Lower Hutt and looked across at Hutt Rec where there was a Rugby game on with maybe 200 watching. It turned out to be Wellington V Southland, Ranfurly Shield Game. Wellington Rugby's home ground for their NPC games is at Porirua Park where they play in front of miniscule crowds.

Earlier this season we had no one at Ellerslie for Group One racing while there was a sellout crowd across town of 25kplus watching Auckland FC. Maybe Ellerslie should have changed the date of their racing?

The answer is simple Mikey. Football is the number one sport in Auckland by a country mile. Good on the Jaffas for seeing the light

Get the spelling right TAB. It's Jaffa! Just a further F----- Aucklander

Mate I do not follow rugby. Besides in Wellington, Football has been the dominate sport for many years and Football is now NZs largest team sport in terms of participation The Wellington Men's Rugby Team has to play their games at Porirua Park in front of maybe 100 spectators. The Hurricanes and the Wellington Rugby Union have major financial issues and with any luck they will fold.

Well, they did not help themselves by having a lamb as a mascot for a Rugby Team and calling their Basketball team The Rams. I also must give TAB some credit, usually anyone who comes from Christchurch is normally a pain in the arse parochial. Not only that he has turned Jaffa.

I do not agree with your comments that the Awapuni cock ups were beyond the prediction of most investors. Firstly, they had no experience with property development so should have sought advice. For the sale of the Awapuni land it was simple. They should have firstly subdivided, then sold the sections and finally built the conference centre. That way they would have removed the risk So far as Club Management goes, Race has been a chapter of incredible cock ups. Just look at recent years. They bought the land at Sherrif's Road Awapuni for $1.6M as they though it would be good for stables. Only problem was that once again they did not do their due diligence as there was a stream around the land with a bridge which they thought gave them access. But it didn't so the last I heard was that the land was back on the market for offers of near $1M. They started a Cafe at Trentham which has cost a fortune to set up and for the first 8 or months of operation lost around $70k. Then we find the CEO's brother in-law is the chef. Once again poor research as there is an excellent Cafe across the railway line which attracts the foot traffic. ]

Race's problem goes back to "The Awapuni Debacle" when they built a conference centre / grandstand without any money. The plan was to subdivide residential land at Awapuni, sell sections and then build the new centre. However, they decided to build before they sold the land and the $9M cost was funded by the Bank with the debt to be repaid from section sales. The building was completed just as the GFC hit and they could not find buyers for the sections. When they did sell a section well below expected price the proceeds were used to only repay interest to The Bank. So, Trentham has been sold off to repay interest and principal as well as to cover the many other blunders made by so called experts. The other issue they have is that each club has two directors on the board but some of the clubs are so small in terms of membership that it would be incredibly hard to find two members with the expertise to sit as directors. For example, Marton has about 20 members plus the committee. Rangitikei and Feilding are not much better.

Maybe but I don't fancy their chances be of surviving financially given Race's appalling history.

At the last AGM, Masterton members showed common sense and rejected a proposal to join Race. Some misguided fool in the club moved the motion. That is the only reason I can think of to give them an award.

I stand to be corrected but I think you stated that you were a former Christs student. Also, your hometown of Christchurch wasn't any better prior to the earthquakes. I took my youngest down in 2009 when she started at Canterbury Uni and at the initiation, they warned the students not to go into town at night. The central city was filthy, and I went for a coffee just off the square in what appeared to be a reasonable Cafe and then a fight started up between two women and they rolled around on the floor for some time before it was broken up. I was there a few weeks ago and they have done a great job rebuilding the city. Shame that it needed an earthquake though.

Well according to Sam Neil, students at Christs College were the same as you describe above