A Tale of Two Cities: San Francisco & Christchurch

Oakland Bridge, Loma Pieta quake, 1989

Cathedral of Blessed Sacrement, Christchurch quake, 2011

They've both had devastating earthquakes in their recent past. In fact, one of them is trying to learn from the other about how to recover from such devastation.

But San Franciscans and Cantabrians share many other things in common: they love their region and they love their sport. Their sport was also greatly affected by the major earthquakes of 1989 and 2011.

The 1989 Loma Pieta earthquake occurred prior to Game 1 of the World Series between the San Francisco Giants and cross-town rivals, Oakland Athletics. The quake obviously postponed the World Series for a bit.

The 2011 Christchurch earthquake resulted in the Hurricanes v Crusaders game to be cancelled and the Crusaders were forced into a nomadic lifestyle, playing their whole season on the road. Their first home game in Christchurch won't be till March 26 at the revamped Rugby League Park in Addington.

And after years in the wilderness, it appears San Francisco has finally caught up with the rest of North America as a major sporting city. Long a sleeping giant, the crown jewel of the Bay is once again embracing glory in America's biggest professional sporting leagues.

It started in late 2010 with the San Francisco Giants winning the National League West title. The Giants then progressed onto the World Series, upsetting the Texas Rangers on the way to World Championship glory. Indeed, after 3 attempts,  it was the Giants' first title since 1954 when they were still based in New York - 4 years later, they moved to San Francisco.

Ok, 2011 was a bit of a hangover year for the Giants but with Tim Lincecum and Buster Posey likely to be around for years to come, the Giants have every chance of adding more glory at their beautiful AT&T Park.

Now this year, the San Francisco 49ers are desperate to emulate the city's baseball team by beating the New York Giants and booking a berth in the Super Bowl. The 49ers and coach, Jim Harbaugh are seeking a return to the glory days they saw in the 1980s and 1990s when they were the team to beat in the NFL.

At the same time, the 49ers are looking to move from their historic but now slightly decrepit Candlestick Park stadium to a brand new stadium in Santa Clara in a few years time. The move is trying to be hurried along given Candlestick's age - and the power woes the ground had earlier in the season during the Pittsburgh Steelers game; an embarrassment on national TV.


Harbaugh's former team, the Stanford Cardinal down the interstate in Palo Alto have also enjoyed a bit of a resurgence of late - only just missing out on the Pac-12 title and winning the Fiesta Bowl. Not the way star quarterback, Andrew Luck wanted to go out but he can console himself with a top NFL draft pick this April.





Across the ocean on the other side of the Pacific lies a much more docile and smaller city in terrain that is fair scenic depending on whose viewpoint you're following.

The city of Christchurch has long been considered the most English city outside of England with its old churches and buildings. Sadly, many of those have gone now from New Zealand's 2nd largest city and biggest agricultural hub.

Nevertheless, the gardens are still there as is that tough and indomitable Canterbury spirit which emanates through its sports teams.




Canterbury is often hailed as the heart beat of New Zealand sport and unlike San Francisco, Christchurch has seen many teams dominate consistently over recent years especially when it comes to the national sport, rugby.

Thus, it was a great tragedy that the 2011 earthquake put the city along with its AMI Stadium - a stadium that looks quite similar to the Patriots' Gillette Stadium - out of action for the 2011 Rugby World Cup - NZ's biggest sporting event for a while yet. And it looks like Christchurch's premiere stadium is out for the forseeable future.

Whether the former Lancaster Park out in the liquefaction prone Eastern suburbs is out of action for good remains to be seen, with alternatives being talked about in the west of the city or at the now abandoned Wigram Aerodome.

But as I said, it's hard to keep a Cantabrian down for long and adversity seems to fuel its sports teams to further success.



The 2011 Crusaders may not have won the Super rugby title but they beat the champion, Reds to a Laureus Award nomination because of their courageous efforts in a season played wholly away from home.

The Canterbury NPC team also came back to win the national title while the Canterbury Wizards cricket team are playing for the national Twenty20 Cup.










As they say, disaster can destroy a building but can never take away its heart and for Christchurch and San Francisco, sport has always been at the centre of that very red beat.

Jim Harbaugh and Todd Blackadder will be hoping sport can help bring back old glories to cities which have seen it tough in recent times.