Wed, 21 Jul 2010 4:30a.m.
By Erin Gallagher
It only occurred to me just a few months ago that New Zealand was hosting the entire Rugby World Cup by itself. The whole shebang. The unso everythingso. I don’t know why, but I’d thought we were sharing the sporting fanaticism with Australia too. I’d even thought it was happening in September of this year. Woops. Note to self: pay more attention to the news, Erin.
Apparently the average Kiwi is meant to care about the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Ours is a nation traditionally in awe of rugby; we live rugby, we breathe rugby, we worship rugby like a homeless man worships his dope. But how are we meant to seriously give a toss about the biggest rugby event since, well, the last really big rugby event a few years back, when, up until now, the organising of just about everything world cup-related has been a total shambles?
Party Central. Party Poo Poo, more like it. What’s been heralded as the greatest party zone in the country, Party Central has to be one of the most contentious yet mind-numbingly pathetic disputes since EVER.
Now that the Government has finally decided what to do, I hardly think that the average New Zealander supports “investing” twenty-odd million dollars into renovating an old tin shed, planting a few nice trees here and there, and developing some kind of structure that is only going to be pulled down once the revelry is over and the area developed again into some kind of cruise ship terminal which will earn the government yet more moolah.
Just buying a ticket to one of the games is also a hotly contested issue. If the Rugby World Cup is supposed to be making our beautiful game more accessible to the average Kiwi, and encouraging New Zealanders to be proud of a competition that we have a pretty good chance of winning, then charging exorbitant prices just to sit in a stadium that many of us probably drive past everyday certainly isn’t going to do it.
The Official 2011 Rugger World Cup Website lists the prices for every game in great detail, which to their credit is done very well and clearly. To my credit, there’s no way I’d ever fork out that kind of cash to watch a game I could watch for free on telly in a pub with my other poor friends.
Based on my crap bank balance situation, the only games I could even consider paying to see would be Ireland versus USA in New Plymouth, Tonga versus Canada in Whangarei, or Scotland versus Georgia in Dunedin, all for somewhere between $30 and $40.
But I don’t want to see those teams run around a field chasing a ball, their large thighs swinging in the wind (well, maybe the Irish, because – let’s face it – Irish boys are the goods). No offence, but isn’t the point of the Rugby World Cup to see the best teams in the world compete for glory? Sorry Georgia and Russia, you’ve actually got no chance.
The games I want to see are the high-profile ones. The ones featuring England and their amazing specimen of a man called Jonny Wilkinson. The ones featuring the Wallabies because it would be excellent to see the ANZACs in the final together.
And of course, the ones featuring the All Blacks and Wellsford’s very own Rene Ranger (side note, I’d like to say that I went to high school with Rene. The truth is, I did. The other truth is, he’d never recognise me, nor me him) but those kinds of games require me to have a six-figure income.
I’m not paying up to $450 to see Tonga get annihilated by the All Blacks in the opening game of the World Cup; New Zealand versus France would definitely be worth seeing, but I’m not sure it’s worth the entry fee. And I absolutely refuse point blank to fork out up to $1250 for a seat in the grand final, because knowing my luck and the fact that Murphy’s Law was once named after me but was changed fairly early on because Erin’s Law just doesn’t have the same ring, the All Blacks will crash and burn against France and I’ll end up having to endure Australia and South Africa fight it out to the death.
Still, there is the occasional opportunity for Joe Bloggs to cash in on the Rugby World Cup too. Check out www.stayinnz.com where you can rent your house out for ridiculously expensive prices to rugby fans from all over the world.
Prices start at only $400 for a one-bed studio, only a 35-minute drive from Christchurch’s AMI Stadium. For only $560 a week you can rent a two-bedroom unit in Whakatane. That’s right, you read right – Whakatane, a town where zero games of rugby will be played, but the house is only 20 minutes away from the airport which has daily flights to places who do. And for a measly $4000 a week you could score yourself a private home out in the country, only seven kilometres from North Harbour Stadium and complete with spa, outdoor dining and Sky TV, just in case you can’t be bothered actually going to the game.
The 2011 Rugby World Cup: show me the money. Oh, and maybe a bit of rugger.
What I’m reading: Learn to Speak French in 30 Days course book and CD combo. I did start it a month or so back, but I’ve already forgotten what little I learned, so I’ve started again.
What I’m looking forward to: Seeing Rene Ranger back in the All Blacks’ starting 15 at some point. Wellsford, reprahZENT.
What I’m dreading: Attempting to get my washing dry, given the weather outlook for this week.
What’s made me happy this week: Getting brutally smacked in the nose/mouth/face at indoor netball. It’s alright, I’m not a sadistic flagellating type: the moment itself didn’t make me happy (in fact, it was very painful – my teeth felt like they’d been shunted three inches back into my head), the sporting scars made me happy. Yeah. Look at me. I’m a hard-out sporty person.
What’s really annoyed me this week: Slowing down at a pedestrian crossing in torrential rain, just in case an unfortunate bedraggled person is trying to cross, only to find that said pedestrian crossing no longer exists. It’s been moved up the road further, but zebra crossing lines are still very visible in the rain. When you change the road layout, get rid of the old lines, Auckland City Council! I bet a supercity wouldn’t do anything about that either!
NRL Tipping Score: 75