D'Arcy Waldegrave: Sportstalk host on Sir Jim Ratcliffe getting behind Manchester United's new stadium plans

A hint of irony from Manchester United's new stadium plans, at least from a New Zealand perspective.

Part-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is behind plans to build a new $4.5 billion dollar, 100 thousand-seat environmentally-friendly ground before demolishing Old Trafford.

Sportstalk host D'Arcy Waldegrave explains further. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ryan. The problem is everyone wants the government to do something,
but no one can say what the something is. Rod
is a case in point. That's Rod Duke, who's the
brisco's boss. Just on the program, he said the government
needs to get its a enter g. That's the polite
way of saying it, paraphrasing. But what exactly that means.
No one's really certain of, are they? And the IMF

(00:20):
actually has some thoughts on this. I'll tell you what
they think. Caution it's boring, but I'll tell you what
they think. And predictable later on in the program right now,
never boring, never predictable Darcy water Graves or us.

Speaker 2 (00:32):
Hey, Darcy, mind you that's great saying from back in
the day. Don't just do something. Stand there, that's what
we've got. Hey, I'm here to talk about sport, nothing else.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
Let's stick to that, shall we?

Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (00:45):
Ends it up. I saw this story yesterday and I
was intrigued. So they're looking at making some changes to
junior rugby. Year eight will go from fifteen to thirteen
a side, year seven to ten aside.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
And they're going to have some time smaller fields. They're
basically trying to simplify the grassroots of the game. We're
going to be joined by Mike Hester tonight her participation
at NZ talking about what they're trying to put in place. Now,
these are proposals, and they're running them through the clubs,
and they're running them past everybody concerns, as parents, school kids, coaches,

(01:21):
the whole lot, because they want to retain players and
they want players to enjoy the game from a younger
age because once you get your hooks into them when
they're young, you keep them for a long time.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
So hasn't it sort of worked with ripper rugby.

Speaker 2 (01:34):
Yeah, but you've got to progress through the stages till
he become full blown adult players with full tackle, full scrums,
full lineouts. And part of the issue with this here
is that players at a younger age get pigeonholed into
roles that they probably don't need to be and like
this short, fat kid becomes a prop at eight. What

(01:56):
they want to do is have all of the young
players experience the full gamut of rugby and what it means.
So you run and you pass, and your kick and
you tackle, and you have fun with your mates, and
then you start solidifying your role as you get older,
and you start understanding the game a lot, So you.

Speaker 1 (02:14):
Make the team smaller so that everyone gets to do
a bit more of everything.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
Everybody can do a way a bit more.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
I'm not against that, of you against it. I think
there'll be people who have an allergic reaction to.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
That, or there will be I think the elephant in
the room around participation, though, is concussion, and that's something
that has to be addressed. And we'll talk to Mike
about that, because there's something they're acutely aware of as
mums and dads not one of their kids playing the
game because they're afraid of that.

Speaker 1 (02:40):
So do you get injured?

Speaker 2 (02:41):
What about the safety that comes into this as well?
And I suppose with less players, bigger, I don't know,
we talk about it anyway.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
You get injured in golf though, don't you look at
Tiger Woods?

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Was that golf Tiger?

Speaker 1 (02:53):
What happened?

Speaker 2 (02:55):
It could have been a car accident. I mean, you
could have slipped on a sock. He climbed out of
his bed. I don't know. In a hurry, I'm getting
out of here. Well, I don't know. He's got an
achilles He hit a pop apparently hit and on the goals. No, no, no, no,
it's just cruising. It wasn't on the golf something, so

(03:16):
might not come to the Masters. I suppose it's not
already an issue because everybody he can decide when they
want to retire. But you look at the way Tiger
is saying on for grim Dead, I'm not going anywhere.
I'm not going anywhere. Kind of your body's falling apart. Mate,
Maybe you should just like cut yourself some slack and
maybe turn up the Masters every now and then. I mean,

(03:38):
it's got nothing left to prove, bro. But again, that's
his decision. It's his life, and if he wants to
keep you can get to the Seniors if he wants,
and get beaten by Steven Elkert.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
Hey, Sir Jim Redcliffe very quickly says he's got no money,
and then he's spent How much has he spent on
the stadium.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
The stadium is proposed to cost two billion pounds, so
about four point five billion New Zealand dollars. Let's not
forget that Manchester Night. Is this where this new stadium
is going to be next to old Trafford? Yeah, I
don't know if it's going to be called New Trafford
or not. I won't take that was Matt Heath from
previously apparently there in the hole for a billion round.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
I know the difference is this is this would be
capital expenditure, wouldn't it as opposed to just you know,
throwing money at some some sponsorship.

Speaker 2 (04:22):
Right, So that million dollars and you're talking about billions
and billions, mate, just stick your hand on the bag
of the couch, give us that money. Will go away.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
With seven o'clock on News Talks, there'd.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
Be for more from hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Listen live to News Talks it'd be from four pm weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.