Christchurch's World Cup stadium will be out of action for five months

Reports in New Zealand today said that the AMI Stadium in Christchurch, which is scheduled to stage seven matches in the World Cup later this year, including two quarter-finals, will be out of use for some five months after Tuesday's earthquake in the city caused flooding. TVNZ reported that the Crusaders, whose Super Rugby match in Wellington this weekend has been called off, with the sides sharing the points, will have to find a new home for the rest of the season because of damage to the playing surface caused by liquefaction. The station said that it could be more than five months before the ground is fit to stage a rugby match. The first World Cup match in Christchurch is scheduled for September, when England face Argentina, little more than six months away. Contingency plans have been drawn up should matches have to be moved away from the city. They include taking some games to Australia, but the New Zealand prime minister, John Key, said he hoped his country's second city would recover in time to welcome World Cup visitors. "If we can host the Rugby World Cup as we intend to in Christchurch, I would like to do that," he said. "It is some way into the future, but it is a very important city to New Zealand and it would be a demonstration that it was back on its feet. "One of the issues might be accommodation as there has been substantial damage to hotels, but that is something the Rugby World Cup minister, Murray McCully, will be looking at." The tournament organisers will not consider contingency plans as long as rescue work is going on in Christchurch. "At this moment, it is too early to talk about any implications for the tournament," said the Rugby NZ communications manager Mike Jaspers. "Right now all that has got to take a back seat while Christchurch deals with the aftermath of this tragedy. Our thoughts are very much with the people of the region. Any assessment must wait while rescue and recovery efforts take priority." The Canterbury Rugby Union chief executive, Hamish Riach, said he fears Christchurch will not be able to stage its World Cup fixtures. "Right now it doesn't feel like we could host very much at all," he said. "We've been looking forward to the World Cup for five years and it's an event that promised so much for the city and the wider region, and you'd certainly hope so. It's too early to say. Everyone is in the immediacy of this traumatic event and we're not quite getting our heads around that space just yet but gosh, I hope so; who knows?" Rugby World Cup organising committee chief executive Martin Snedden has assured New Zealanders that no match will be moved out of the country. "There has been speculation that this tragedy puts the entire event in jeopardy or that matches will relocate to Australia," Snedden said. "That is not the case. Rest assured, RWC 2011 will proceed and all matches will take place in New Zealand."