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Live sport on SN this weekend'A bit of your heart’s been cut out': Crusaders’ final goodbye to Apollo Projects Stadium
Sport Nation • April 3rd, 2026 9:55 am
Colin Mansbridge | Photo: Photosport
For a 'temporary home', Apollo Projects Stadium has become much more than that over the past 14 years.
On Friday, the Crusaders will run out for the 120th and final time at the venue when they face the Drua, before shifting to their long awaited new base at Te Kaha Stadium.
“If you move out of a home when you're a kid… you sort of feel like ‘wow’, a bit of your heart's been cut out.” Crusaders CEO Colin Mansbridge told Sport Nation.
It’s a feeling shared across the region. Former captain and Crusaders great Kieran Read recently reflected on the ground’s origins, and more importantly, what it came to mean for the community.
Hearing those memories struck a chord with Mansbridge.
“I just have to take a moment,” an emotional Mansbridge said.
“I think this place has been all about that. The whole point of it was that it was about lifting the region.”
Israel Dagg's emotional tribute to Apollo Projects Stadium | Scotty & Izzy
That sense of purpose was driven by the club’s leaders.
“The players talk about playing for something bigger than themselves. And I know Richie McCaw said that to us, you've always got to represent something bigger than yourself.”
Beyond results on the field, the connection between team and community has remained central.
“We make sure that fans are in the best place they can possibly be in with the resources that we have, and then we just make sure that the players go out and inspire everybody in the way they play and conduct themselves,” Mansbridge said.
“So I get choked up every time I listen to Reado, Richie.”
For all its temporary foundations, the stadium became something lasting.
The scaffolding held more than just a venue together. It held a region.
Listen to the full interview:
