It is only a few days away now, but I’m still not feeling the love for the Rugby World Cup.
Former RadioNZ heavyweight Sean Plunket noted in his opinion piece in the DomPost a couple of weeks back that:
“Whatever your view on the event and the significant expenditure of public funds by the last and current government on securing and preparing for it, RWC 2011 cannot be ignored. In this relatively peaceful and quiet nation where overseas guests often marvel at the triviality of stories which become national news our media have for the next few months a global event happening right on their doorstep. Forgive us if we milk RWC 2011 for every column centimetre, sound bite and replay of Jonah Lomu bowling Mike Catt that we can. An opportunity like this comes but once in a lifetime for Kiwi reporters and it would be churlish to deny the collective media this golden opportunity.”
But I’m just not buying it. New Zealand is already pretty bad as a rugby-mad country – do we really have to get any madder or badder? The prospect of thousands more rugby fans parked up in Courtenay Place bars over the coming weeks, boozing it up large, doesn’t really fill me with joy, even if it is exactly what the local hospitallers want according to this DomPost story. A Courtenay Place hospitality group has made a scathing attack on Wellington City Council over its Rugby World Cup planning, angry about the lack of consultation from the council. Restaurants were losing half their outdoor areas to provide an evacuation zone and were being told they could only have special licences for the weekend of the quarterfinals on October 8 and 9…
“We are only celebrating the quarterfinal and there are six weeks of rugby. The whole country is celebrating, except in Wellington. Who’s taken the positively out of the absolutely? We still don’t know what’s happening in Courtenay Place and we’re a month out. It’s been very frustrating. We’re getting sick of being treated like someone’s bitch, to be honest.”
There are many distasteful things about the whole Rugby World Cup thing, including their banal rejection of anything other than the official corporate sponsors (I can’t believe how other big companies are bowing down to that one), their promotion of boring beers (I was never very fond of bland tasteless old Heineken, but now I plan to never drink it again), the stultifying boringness of most of the rugby played (thank goodness for the likes of Fiji and Samoa!), but what really creeps me out is the mute accepting of the need to double the amount of hookers in town. Yuck! Putting it bluntly, can’t you boys keep your cocks in your pants, and out of the pride of Wellington womenhood?
And the bloody sign
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10749509
Screw the IRB, they’re making FIFA look good and that takes some doing.
Well, that opening ceremony was sort of impressive, but the first game was kind of meh if you ask me. But then again, couldn’t watch it because I was yawning with boredom so much… However – the giant white worm seems to have worked ok as a venue, the Auckland transport scene apparently worked reasonably well, and the whole thing seems to be working out. One thing I noted – isn’t it kind of prescient for the St Johns bar to be selling / sponsored by Heineken?
Fantastic party, but the public transport was pure disasterville – trains couldn’t run, ferries couldn’t dock. There will be some irate rugby fans who missed the opening ceremony etc… not a good look given ticket prices and that authorities advised people to use PT to avoid any delays.
This was really the moment for public transport to shine, and convince many first time users of its benefits – especially with Brown’s plans for the future of Auckland PT… such a shame Auckland Transport failed to deliver. I can hear the PT critics rubbing their hands together already…
Can’t comment on the hooker situation though.