Invercargill: just a little bit Melbourne

Earlier this year Sport Southland development manager Peter Dunne suggested to me during a conversation that Invercargill could be a little Melbourne, writes Logan Savory in this week's Sav's Say.

I'm guessing readers' reaction to the statement will probably be similar to mine – a puzzled grunt.

Invercargill is far from the hustle and bustle of the great Australian city of Melbourne.

However, Dunne's statement had plenty of merit.

Melbourne has been dubbed the world's capital of sport, and when you work through the host of sporting events and teams the city houses, it is a justified tag.

This is where Dunne's comparison of Invercargill to Melbourne came from.

Invercargill is far from a world sporting powerhouse but I'm not aware of too many other cities with about 50,000 people that boasts the same sporting profile as the world's southernmost city.

Dunne's Invercargill-to-Melbourne comparison was hammered home to me at the weekend.

On Friday night a mate and I ventured down to the ILT Velodrome – New Zealand's only indoor cycling track.

We took in the Oceania track cycling championships, where we got the opportunity to see New Zealand's rising star Sam Webster, a three-time world junior champion, take on Australian Olympian Daniel Ellis.

This was sporting competition at its best, and right on our doorstep.

Among the spectators at the cycling were members of the New Zealand men's hockey team, who were taking part in a week-long World Cup qualifying tournament. Guess where? That's right, Invercargill.

This sort of weekend sporting bonanza has become the norm in Invercargill as international events continue to be attracted to the city.

How about this for an impressive list of other events mad-keen sporting fans have been able to watch in Invercargill: New Zealand v Australia netball test, three New Zealand v Australia Whyte Trophy badminton tests, the Oceania Cup hockey tournament, national divisional basketball tournament, national provincial netball tournament, national track cycling championships, two Super 14 rugby games, seven national provincial championship rugby games involving the Stags, four trans-Tasman netball games involving Southern Steel, two national domestic cricket games, a round of the New Zealand V8s series and cycling's Tour of Southland. I'm only scratching the surface with this list.

Clearly, Invercargill is doing well to attract all these types of sporting events but, ultimately, it will be the public who determine whether this remakable sporting bonanza continues.

If people turn up to support these events, they should remain on the city's sporting calendar.

 

» Logan Savory is a former Southland cricket representative who was named New Zealand junior sportswriter of the year at the 2007 TP McLean journalism awards. His main rounds are cricket and rugby.

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