The central city and waterfront became chaotic when about 200,000 revellers turned out
The Government's last-minute decision to cancel
nationwide celebrations for Rugby World Cup opening night was partly to
blame for chaos across Auckland that night, a report says.
A 250-page evaluation of the international sporting event released on Wednesday has declared the RWC an "overwhelming success".
Domestic
and international tourists loved the event and Auckland itself, handing
the City of Sails an average 90 percent rating as a place to visit.
But
the event autopsy was not all sunny, with just 8.9 percent of Auckland
businesses believing that the event had benefited them.
The
report also revisits the chaos of September 9, when authorities grossly
underestimated how many fans would pour into Eden Park and the
waterfront fan zones to mark the opening night.
The city's
overloaded rail system failed, leaving hundreds of commuter stranded in
hot trains or forced to walk, with dozens missing the opening ceremony
and the start of the New Zealand-Tonga game.
The same night, the
central city and waterfront became chaotic when about 200,000 revellers -
double the anticipated crowd - turned out, which led to the government
seizing control of the waterfront and expanding fan zones for future
matches.
The report concluded that the government's RWC agency NZ 2011 was partly to blame for problems.
It
cancelled plans for nationwide celebrations less than a year out from
the event, leaving Auckland Council critically short of time to properly
organise the night.
The council admitted that a complicated
arrangement with contractors and sub-contractors had made problems
difficult to quickly identify and fix.
It said it had learnt some
"very valuable lessons" from the mayhem, and would be relying on one
decision-making body to co-ordinate future events.
An update on the economic impact of the tournament on Auckland will be released in April next year.
NZN