Newlands Rugby Stadium

An aerial shot of Newlands Rugby Stadium. Photo: Gallo.

Iconic Newlands Rugby Stadium’s fate to be decided on Thursday

The Western Province Rugby Football Union will on Thursday reveal what the future holds for Newlands Rugby Stadium.

Newlands Rugby Stadium

An aerial shot of Newlands Rugby Stadium. Photo: Gallo.

The Western Province Rugby Football Union will on Thursday reveal what the future holds for Newlands Rugby Stadium.

The troubled union — who is currently under the administration of SA Rugby — has confirmed it will hold a special press conference on Thursday in Cape Town, where an announcement will be made regarding the future of the once great stadium.

WP’s SA Rugby-appointed administrator Rian Oberholzer, general manager Danny Jones and Stormers head coach John Dobson will all address the media at the event.

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Newlands was last used for a professional match in 2021, but has significantly deteriorated.

When Western Province were on the brink of a financial collapse, facing liquidation and forfeiting their assets worth millions, Newlands was to be put up for sale to help alleviate the financial stain on the union.

But when the sale failed to materialise, the union’s president Zelt Marais was accused of deliberately stalling potential equity deals and botching the sale of Newlands Rugby Stadium.

That forced SA Rugby to invoke its constitutional power to take administrative control of the WPRFU, which controls 100% of its commercial arm, Western Province Professional Rugby.

The experienced Oberholzer was appointed as an administrator in October 2021 and has been overseeing the union’s affairs since then.

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As sole owners of the Newlands, WP Rugby again announcement in February 2022 that the stadium would be placed on the market in a sealed bidding process.

But the process was delayed once again, when former Springbok Wynand Claassen launched his ‘Save Newlands Rugby Stadium‘ campaign that applied to the Western Cape government to declare Newlands a ‘heritage site’ in order to ensure the historical stadium doesn’t get demolished.

Now, following several meetings between Claassen, Oberholzer and the government, the final decision about the once iconic Newlands stadium, which has now become a burden for WP Rugby due to the facility’s high maintenance costs, will be made public on Thursday.

THE PICTURESQUE NEWLANDS RUGBY STADIUM

Newlands Rugby Stadium before Stormers left
Newlands Rugby Stadium.