Posts by Rich of Observationz
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So I struggle to see how the IRB can be seen as being unreasonable here.
Given that NZ is one of the three or four main rugby nations in terms of numbers playing and team performance, I'd suggest that we were entitled to a turn at hosting the cup every so often *without* having to build new stadiums, remove civil rights from our population, etc.
It would be perfectly possible to have had the cup with the old 47,000 capacity Eden Park. They just wouldn't have sold as many tickets.
I reckon they need to lose the whole "big is best" idea from sport and have the RWC simply progress through the rugby playing nations in alphabetical order. So the next cup would be in Samoa, then Scotland, etc.
Of course the Samoan cup would be a lot less glitzy, but I'm sure it would still be fun.
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Seriously, if you take the viewing figures as "number of people with access to the broadcast" then actually, it might be a reverse indicator of the popularity of the sport.
I'm guessing that outside rugby playing countries, the RWC feed is more or less free. Therefore Azerbajan TV will probably use it as cheap filler. Major soccer matches probably cost money and thus don't make it to telly in a lot of places.
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Compared with the 2007 RWC's cumulative audience of three billion viewers.
I thought 50 billion, myself. All those keen rugby fans out there on Betelgeuse 3 and Alpha-Centauri 7.
Of course, the Alpha Centaurans get the world cup somewhat more than four years out of date, and are currently keenly awaiting an All Blacks victory in the '07 event. The Betelgeusans are even further behind, receiving telly made around 400 years before the invention of rugby. Once they start though, I'm confident that they will be keen fans, and may field a team competitive with Argentina in time for the 2750 RWC.
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Rich of Obs
I haven't even lived in the place for three years, and would certainly never run for elected office there!
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this guy uses only the water that falls on his roof in his nice terraced house in Sydney.
Yeah, except that there will be a substantial amount of nutrients and pathogens leaching from his "sustainable" sewage disposal system into the ground. Especially if that system's not properly maintained (I'm sure his personal one is, but not everybody is as committed).
Not to mention that to live on rooftop rainwater, population densities need to be so low that public transport becomes unsustainable, and the car culture gets reinforced.
Hippies.
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I do not represent the ACT Party
Yes he does, I reckon. If a person is an official of a party (especially a really small one like ACT), their opinions, like it or not, are pretty much representative of how the party "thinks". It's not a hat you can take off (even if local councillors often try to con the electorate that they're "non political").
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Thanks Nick, finally a bit of honesty. I will be quoting you on that. I feel a letter to Rodney to confirm your statement.
What she said.
You mean you have a problem with elected officials having the ability to influence/fire the officials that are nominally working under them?
Democracy is hard, we should just give it up.
And what he said, too.
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Eden Park will only have 25% more people to get in and out than for a full-house before the upgrade. It's not like the capacity is being trebled or anything?
Has anyone ever been to Twickenham? 82,000 capacity, and to get to the station you walk several blocks through residential streets before packing onto South West Trains legendary scheduled services.
If people get tired of waiting for a train, they could always walk. They have been to a "sporting" event after all - as in, active, athletic, non-sedentary. Just place one foot in front of the other for half an hour and you'll find yourself in the vicinity of Auckland.
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I reckon the logical conclusion for the whole Olympic / Big Sport movement is to build a permanent global Party Central for massive sporting events, somewhere the irritations of democratic states and the intrusions of viral advertising can't happen.
A former gulag on Novaya Zemlya would seem to be an appropriate spot.
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...looking for a good time
Fort St and K Rd are the traditional venues for that kind of thing, surely?