Posts by Steve Barnes
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Field Theory: Straight for the throat, in reply to BenWilson,
Weren't interviews usually conducted in the entrance to the dressing room in the past, rather than in front of a flimsy perspex wall of advertising?
Ah, but this is RugbyWorld Cup inc. Corp, Limited &Co., they have to put the Sponsors first.
On that note. Has anybody tried using Visa at any of the Official Venues? -
I found This quite informative as a bit of history...
Scragged, beaten and bitter
By Paul Panckhurst
Saturday 1st June 2002
This year will go down in history as the year the NZRFU, through a mixture of apathy, incompetence and childish behaviour, lost New Zealand the Rugby World Cup. Paul Panckhurst reveals, among other things, just why we couldn't get those stadiums clean.Don't call us, we won't call you
Once upon a time, there was a company with a couple of corporate boxes. The company was Fletcher Building; the boxes were at Eden Park. It was early March 2002.
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Field Theory: Four Years Ago, in reply to Sacha,
that anyone reckons the RFU had much of a say
I guess that as the NZRU is no longer called the NZRFU I stand corrected.
the national union was known as the New Zealand Rugby Football Union or NZRFU. The name was officially shortened in 2006 with the removal of the world “Football”.
But who is this RFU of whom you speak? An easy mistake I accept as
The decisions announced today were unchanged from those recommended by the Board of RNZ 2011 Ltd and ratified by the Board of Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) which met in Dublin, Ireland, on Wednesday.
Or did you mean the IRB?
ETA. IMHO, AFAIK, IANAL, WTF YMMV, Annat, innit?
ETAA. Acronyminity not intended to offend. ;-) -
Field Theory: Four Years Ago, in reply to Sacha,
Hilarious
Why?
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So, who's to blame.
First the problem.
200,000 ish people were at the waterfront. Why?
When the powers that be i.e. the NZRFU, decided that Eden Park would be the Venue for most of the Auckland games the Waterfront proposal should have been dropped.
But..."Party central - it'll be a place to congregate. There'll be large TV screens and bars and places for people to come along and celebrate and you can imagine it won't just be the six weeks of the campaign," says Prime Minister John Key.
Fact is it was the decision to keep Eden Park as the Main venue that was the fumble. With the Rugby season stretching out into the Spring and starting sometime shortly after after it finishes, it needs a stadium of its own, not Eden Park "The Home of Auckland Cricket"
The Park became the home of Auckland Cricket in 1910. The Auckland Rugby Union leased the Park in 1914, officially making Eden Park its home in 1925.
Note, leased not owned.
Trevor Mallards idea for the Waterfront Stadium should have gained more traction butSports Minister Trevor Mallard refused to comment today on the Auckland Regional Council's decision to support a revamped Eden Park rather than a planned new stadium on the city's waterfront.
So, we could have blamed the ARC and they do these things so well but they are no longer, and who's decision was that, eh?. Needless to say
Mr Key has not given any hint as to whether he endorses the report.
Relaxed I suspect.
I have to admit I didn't like the idea of the Waterfront Stadium but in retrospect, it would have been great. We could of had total chaos.
;-) -
Meanwhile, in Wellington...
Don’t sing in the railway station – it’s banned because of the Rugby World CupBecause of the rugby rules, you won’t be allowed to sing or play a musical instrument in either of these areas, or in part of Bunny Street which is sinisterly branded as a “clean zone”.
The city council will be sending staff into the streets to say “move along” to anyone who might be seen or heard making music in the wrong places.
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Hard News: Just don't call it "Party Central", in reply to Russell Brown,
There were so many people in the CBD that it was simply prudent to close some streets to traffic.
In the CBD and Eden Park maybe but to closing off main thoroughfares was always going to put an unnecessary extra burden on Public Transport. Sometimes you just have to trust the majority of the populace are not idiots, you are never going to have incident free large events. It is in handling those incidents quickly and efficiently that is the key to successful event organisation not a totalitarian police state hell bent on subjugation of the masses.
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Hard News: Just don't call it "Party Central", in reply to BenWilson,
FWIW, I saw on the news after the game last night that they’d already fished 20 people out of the water around wharves.
Can't find anything about that, rumour or cover up conspiracy?
Seriously though. I have a great deal more faith in peoples ability to do stupid things and get away with it. From watching a Mum allow her two toddlers to play on the Wharf Fenders, those things held on with chains and old truck tyres that sway about in the waves, in the early evening to shuddering at the insane antics of drunks at the waters edge late at night I was confident that disaster was not just waiting to happen. The "Authorities", on the other hand, found it necessary to close entire roads so that people could cross, because... well, people are well known for ploughing into crowds at high speed or throwing themselves under cars in an effort to "reach the other side" aren't they?.
Those "Authorities" do have just cause for thinking like this however, many of those same people voted for them. -
Southerly: Tower Insurance Have Some Bad…, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
the organisation of the RWC launch last night makes me despair that any Government or Council in New Zealand could organise a piss up in a brewery –
I keep thinking that any moment I will wake up and discover I have dreamed a brilliant comedy script on a par with Yes Minister.
“OMG, what are we going to do with all the traffic?”
“Easy, we just tell everybody that the roads will be closed”
“So how will people get to the games?”
“Simple, we have public transport”
“Of course, after all, we have invested Millions in getting that right, double tracking and improved schedules”
“There’s the beauty. We change the schedules to make it look like we know what we are doing, it will fail and we can say it was a waste of money, old fashioned technology, 19th century… you know, things like that…Then we can say we need more roads, And, here’s an idea, we get everyone to walk to the games”
“But that will create more chaos, people trying to cross roads and what about toilets and all the other fundamentals?”
“We just employ security guards to make them do what we want, herd ’em like sheep”
“But surely we have systems in place for getting people in and out of the City already why don’t we just let people make informed decisions on how to organise themselves?. People are not stupid”
“Yes Minister, that is why they voted for you. And while you are here Sir may I show you our plans for Christchurch?”