11 June 2015

Prime Minister opens Christchurch Football Centre

Prime Minister John Key today opened the Christchurch Football Centre at a special ceremony in front of representatives from government, sport, business and hundreds of junior football players.

The state-of-the art facility on the western fringe of Christchurch includes two new full-size artificial pitches with fit-for-purpose floodlights, natural turf intermediate fields and junior pitches.

The Football Centre is the first stage of the International Sports Centre and the brainchild of Christchurch businessman and philanthropist Slava Meyn who wants to create a world-class sports facility to encourage greater sporting participation and provide a high-performance environment for the city’s youngsters.

Christchurch Mayor Lianne Dalziel and New Zealand Football chief executive Andy Martin also addressed the 150 guests to congratulate Mr Meyn on his vision and generosity.

After arriving in Christchurch in 2009, Mr Meyn, was surprised by the lack of quality sporting venues in the city, which was exacerbated by the earthquakes, and embarked on a mission to build a state-of-the-art sports facility, complete with internationally qualified professional coaches.

As a former president of a lower league professional football club in Russia and recreational footballer, his initial focus has been on the round ball code, by establishing the Christchurch Football Academy (CFA).

The academy is a not-for-profit charitable trust, which provides all-year football programmes and has become the anchor tenant of the Christchurch Football Centre.

“These fields are a really exciting beginning to our ultimate ambition,” says Mr Meyn. “Soon we will start construction on a clubhouse with ten changing rooms, a café and spectators’ grandstand. That next stage will also include another four mini-patches, two of which will be covered.”

The Football Centre has built a strong relationship with Mainland Football and local schools and is already hosting the secondary schools First XI Premiership, while Christ’s College, Rangi Ruru, and Universities FC will also be using the facility for their sports programmes.

Football, however, is only the first part of Mr Meyn’s vision to create an International Sport Centre across 20 hectares that can accommodate the needs of high-performance athletes of different codes, as well as recreational sports for the local community.

Mr Meyn has created the foundations for this project, and he is now looking for additional partners from other sporting codes, the Christchurch City Council, schools, universities and local businesses to continue the momentum. The next goal is to build a 50m swimming pool.

ENDS

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