You'll never sit alone

MARK DWYER/Taranaki Daily News

SIT DOWN: Embankment Seating International owner Greg Shalfoon with some of the 3200 seats that are being put on the concrete terraces of New Plymouth's Yarrow Stadium.

Relevant offers

An optical illusion is about to be completed at Yarrow Stadium.

The $1.7 million upgrade, to bring the stadium up to rugby World Cup requirements, progressed further this week as workmen began installing 3200 plastic seats on the concrete terraces at the southern end of the ground.

The development programme has been in full swing for a month, with the old pitch ripped out in October and a new drainage system currently being installed.

Project manager Jeff Bondy said it was still unclear how many seats would be installed because of the curve of the terraces.

What fans will immediately notice is the seats do not match the musty yellow version installed in the two main stands.

The Chinese-imported seats are several different colours to give television viewers the impression there are more spectators than are actually at the New Plymouth stadium.

It's not a new trick.

The 'Gabba in Brisbane was one of the first stadiums in the southern hemisphere to adopt the concept in the 1990s, with other grounds following suit.

Mr Bondy, who has given the seats the nickname of "licorice allsorts", had no qualms about their installation.

"It's quite a current thing to do," he said. "The objective is that if you do that it's not so easy to tell when the punters haven't shown up."

The seats are the same design as those used at last year's Beijing Olympics and will hopefully end the need for fans to stand at halftime to revive some circulation back to their main seating area.

"They fit the bill quite well because they fit nicely on to the terraces," Mr Bondy said.

Work on installing the $170,000 worth of seats is expected to be finished by the end of next week. New steps have also been installed to the terrace area.

The northern end of the ground, under the main entrance to the stadium, will remain as a standing terrace.

Meanwhile, Mr Bondy said the work on the pitch was progressing well, with 70 truck and trailer loads of sand expected to be poured on to the ground shortly.

The pitch is unlikely to be used before the All Blacks versus Ireland test in June, with Mr Bondy not expecting the grass to have taken hold before May.

- © Fairfax NZ News