Rugby fans flee partial stand collapse

At least six brackets that supported the temporary seating area had broken or rusted off. Photo / Bay of Plenty Times

Hundreds of young rugby fans were evacuated from their seats at Baypark Stadium after a stand partially collapsed during a Steamers game.

At least six brackets that supported the temporary seating area had broken or rusted off. This caused the seating area to collapse in two places. No one was hurt in the incident.

Baypark general manager Ervin McSweeney confirmed to the Bay of Plenty Times a couple of support brackets had broken off the temporary stand during the Steamers-Taranaki game on Saturday.

The tiered, wooden seating was predominantly a children's area.

"The stand didn't collapse. There are some temporary seats put in front of the main stand and a couple of bracing joints on that broke for some reason," he said. "There's a whole lot of [brackets] that support the stand and for some reason two out of 25 of these things weren't strong enough and one end [of the stand] slightly moved."

When the Bay of Plenty Times visited Baypark Stadium yesterday, seven of about 80 metal brackets on the temporary stands had broken in half. Some of the broken L-brackets had rusted and others were cracked.

The stand is about one metre high and about 50 metres long.

The temporary stand was erected on the speedway track, inside the fence.

Mr McSweeney said the breakage happened during the second half of Saturday's game. A couple of hundred young people who were sitting there were moved to other areas of the stadium.

"It's a kids' area, in front of the main stand," he said.

"I didn't see it happen but a lot of kids were sitting there when a couple of bracing brackets broke. No one was hurt but the event staff decided to shift everyone for safety reasons."

Mr McSweeney said it was the first time the stand had been used this year.

The temporary stand had been used at Baypark for several years.

When asked if the stand was put together incorrectly, Mr McSweeney said the stand was already assembled.

"It comes as is. We don't have to assemble them we just have to put them in.

"When you put them up, you expect them to be in a good condition so we have to examine this very closely," he said.

Mr McSweeney said Baypark staff would look very closely at the broken supports to determine why they suddenly snapped.