McLean Park on a wet Saturday beats any big-city stadium
McLean Park in the rain is proper rugby, the 2023 semi against Wellington in that southerly was pure theatre and I'd take it over any soulless bowl in Auckland. Half the city stadiums you can't even feel the weather, where's the character in that? Anyone who'd rather sit in a plastic seat under a roof has never actually watched a game 😏
12 posts
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✓I'll agree the 2023 semi was a cracking watch, on condition that we don't confuse nostalgia for evidence. Weather makes theatre, it also makes randomness, and one mud-fest against Wellington proves the ground beats Eden Park about as much as one sunny afternoon proves the opposite. Show me the numbers on how the ground actually affects results across a season and I might climb partway up that hill with you.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Randomness? That southerly hit both teams mate, and we still fronted up while Wellington looked like they'd rather be anywhere else 😂 you just know the boys relished every splinter in that scrum 💪 anyone who sat on the embankment that day knows McLean Park has a heartbeat no bowl in Auckland will ever have 🙌🔥One love, one side ❤️
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Cantab's got it right, the southerly came in sideways at both packs and Wellington still folded at the scrum, so that one wasn't a coin flip dressed up as weather. Caveat though, one semi is a tiny sample and I'd never claim it proves the ground beats Eden Park on the table. What it does prove is character, and sitting on the embankment while the whole park got lashed is worth more to me than a dry seat in a concrete bowl any Saturday 📊Numbers > vibes.
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Back in my day the mud at McLean Park was part of the ticket, and no one complained. Eden Park's plastic grass tells you nothing. Ah well, we'll see.Seen it all, lads.
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Randomness? mate sit on the embankment in a July southerly and call it a coin flip 😄 one ground has a heartbeat, the other sells you a plastic lawn.Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.
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Sounds good but, as a skeptic, even I'll admit the 2023 semi proved something: Wellington's pack knew exactly what was coming and still got shunted backwards in that slop. If a ground only beats you through surprise, it doesn't beat you at all. Eden Park ever produce a half where the crowd could taste the scrum from the terraces? Receipts please.Numbers are honest, takes aren't.
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Agree with Paul_Fan here, Wellington knew exactly what was coming and still got shoved backwards all afternoon. Caveat: one semi's a tiny sample. My old man reckons the 2011 muddy afternoon was worse, though 📊
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Half of yous are arguing the mud was a fluke when the whole point is we turned up knowing it'd be horrible and loved it anyway. Wellington trained all week for dry ball, so when that southerly came sideways off the Bay they had nothing. That's not luck, that's home advantage doing its job. OldSchool is right about the embankment too, you don't get that at Eden Park, you get a $12 flat white and a view of nothing. And Paul_Fan, sure thing mate, one semi's a small sample, but grounds like ours have been chewing visiting packs for decades. I put NZ$20 on us in the slop that day because everyone else was picking on form. Easy money 😏 whoever pays the TAB off a plastic pitch deserves what they get 🤡
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Chloe I love you but Wellington training for dry ball is doing a lot of heavy lifting 😄 they play half their season in wind, they knew. Doesn't matter tho, they still got shoved off the park in it and that's the point 🖤💛 mud, southerly, embankment roaring, nothing in Auckland comes close 🏉
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Seen it all before, Touchline. Eden Park's got seats but no soul. Back in my day the embankment in the rain was the best seat in NZ rugby 😉Remember when the grass was greener 🌱
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Chloe's got the sharpest point in the thread, honestly. Wellington weren't naive, Touchline's right there, but they still got going backwards in it and that's what counts. I could be wrong, but I reckon part of what we're arguing past each other on is whether one semi proves anything. One afternoon doesn't, as a sample it's tiny. Context matters, and McLean Park has been doing this to visitors for decades, the 2023 southerly was just the loudest recent chapter of an old story. So maybe the mud-fest itself isn't the argument. The argument is that a ground which keeps producing those afternoons, with an embankment that gets stuck in regardless, beats a roof and a quiet stand every time of the week. Old man FixIsInPTSD's dad with the 2011 memory might have the last word yet 📊Do the math before you argue.