Rugby World Cup lifts spirits in quake-devastated Christchurch

Christchurch may be broken but people in the earthquake-devastated New Zealand city that has become a focus of the Rugby World Cup know how to turn tragedy into a festival.

“Life goes on, you’ve got to stay positive,” Mark Maynard, whose wife Kelly was killed in the quake, said as Sonny Bill Williams lifted his three-year-old daughter Matilda when the All Blacks met families of the victims.

Across town at the official fanzone, an emphatic Adam Neath said “this is our World Cup” as he carried hotdogs to his family seated in a mini stadium watching a big-screen television screening England playing Georgia.

The screens and grandstands surround a makeshift rugby field and up to 40,000 fans are expected in the park if the All Blacks make the quarter-finals, according to Christchurch City marketing manager Richard Stokes.

That’s a similar size crowd that would have turned out if the match had been held at Stadium Christchurch, better known as Lancaster Park, had it not been wrecked along with much of the city in the deadly February earthquakes.

The International Monetary Fund estimates the devastation in Christchurch, home to 350,000 people, will cost about $12.4 billion, making it one of the most expensive quakes for global insurers.

“The overall rebuild is a 10-15 year job,” Roger Sutton, chief executive officer of the Christchurch Earthquake Recovery Authority, said. The International Rugby Board is playing its part to repair the city with a special World Cup appeal to go towards rebuilding the rugby infrastructure.

It was appropriate “to recognise the ongoing challenges faced by Christchurch and the rugby community,” IRB chairman Bernard Lapasset said.

Christchurch, the main city in the province of Canterbury, is synonymous with rugby and home to many household names including All Blacks Richie McCaw, Dan Carter, and legends Alex “Grizz” Wyllie and Fergie McCormick.

“Christchurch is huge as far as any rugby person is concerned and it would have been great to play here,” Scotland captain Alastair Kellock said on a goodwill visit after their game against Argentina was moved to Wellington.

Just over a year ago a 7.1 magnitude quake caused widespread damage, a subsequent 4.9 quake on Boxing Day destabilised more buildings, then came the killer 6.3 magnitude killer on February 22.

It struck when streets were packed with lunchtime crowds and left 181 people dead, destroyed much of the inner-city with its historic stone buildings and destroyed or seriously damaged at least 15,000 homes.

There have been more than 8,000 aftershocks in the seven months since.

“At the end of the day rugby’s just a game,” All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu said as he put the World Cup in perspective against the years of rebuilding that lies ahead for New Zealand’s second-largest city.

The streets resembled a warzone, the famous Lancaster Park was ruined, but people in the hometown of Super rugby’s most successful team, the Canterbury Crusaders, remained positive.

Within three months a joke book You Know You’re From CHCH When ...” was on sale and became an immediate bestseller.