Farewell to QEII stadium

10:01 pm on 9 December 2012

The Christchurch sports venue, QEII park, was officially farewelled on Sunday.

The 1974 Commonwealth Games venue was severely damaged in the February 2011 earthquake and has now been completely demolished.

About 200 people attended the council-funded afternoon of speeches and presentations.

The chair of the Commonwealth games committee at the time, Sir Ron Scott, wore his original 1974 executive committee shirt and told the crowd it was an emotional day for him.

"This is a major set-back because this place could have been going, had it not been for the earthquake, possibly for another 100 - 200 years and who knows what might have taken place here. So that's sad, but I know this city and this province, on behalf of New Zealand, is going to get itself back on its feet, possibly even stronger in future".

Sir Ron has gifted the original games flag to mayor, Bob Parker, to feature at a new sports stadium in the city.