NZ unveils Rugby World Cup festival arrangements
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27th April 2010: With just 500 days to go before the Rugby World Cup (RWC) kicks off in New Zealand (Auckland 9th September 2011) more than a million tickets have gone on sale today for matches across all the country’s 13 venues. In addition further details of the country’s ‘festival of rugby’ have been announced including the people’s wharf in Auckland harbour, a giant ‘wharewaka’ in Wellington and plans to convert Christchurch’s Cathedral Square into a mini rugby field with ‘World Ruck’ cafe.
Tickets will be sold in three phases*, with fans able to apply to purchase phase one from today and phase two tickets from August through www.rugbyworldcup.com. Phase three tickets to the semi-finals and final are only available through an open ballot.
Another option for British fans is to purchase tickets for the matches together with travel packages through the official RWC travel agents. England Rugby Travel is the first agent to go on sale and is already reporting more than 1,200 tickets have been purchased over the past two months by British rugby fans planning to make the journey to New Zealand in 2011.
“With just 500 days to go before the event kicks off tickets sales to the tournament are looking really encouraging. Online tickets went on sale in the early hours of this morning and already 90,000 have been sold. The whole of New Zealand is getting set to welcome the world to what will undoubtedly be the largest ever nation wide rugby festival,” comments Gregg Anderson, Regional Manager for Tourism New Zealand Europe.
Festival of Rugby Plans Unveiled
Major developments are on the way in many of the 23 host centres in New Zealand readying to cope with the expected influx of overseas visitors.
Auckland – waterside fan-zones
In downtown Auckland, Queens Wharf is destined to become “the people’s wharf” fan zone with plans just released for a massive futuristic steel and glass structure housing a temporary entertainment facility, media lounge and cruise ship terminal.
Further along the waterfront on Halsey Street Wharf – in Auckland’s Viaduct Harbour – construction is underway on the city’s new 6000sqm multi-purpose facility, the Viaduct Events Centre.
Eden Park, which will host games throughout the tournament including the opening game and the all important final on 23rd October 2011, will have a new six-level, 21,500-seat South Stand which is on target for completion in November 2010. The stadium will have a permanent capacity of 50,000, with 10,000 temporary seats boosting capacity for RWC 2011.
Auckland Airport developments include a new four-star-plus Novotel hotel beside the international terminal, and a 120-room Formule 1 budget hotel.
Wellington – Wharewaka rugby central
With seven RWC 2011 matches, including two quarter-finals to be held in the city, Wellington is a-buzz with activity.
The city has just launched a dedicated website www.Wellingtonnz2011.com an online regional one-stop-shop for RWC 2011. Capital city developments due to be completed for RWC 2011 include a futuristic new international air terminal, additional trains and buses, new accommodation, and a unique waterfront fan zone based in a ‘wharewaka’ – or canoe house – which will become Wellington’s rugby central with room for 1200 people.
The innovative “creative capital” is also planning to introduce rechargeable electric vehicles for zipping around town, and film industry giant Weta Workshops has unveiled plans for a rugby sculpture. Wellington’s All Blacks will pose as body-models for the Richard Taylor design that also incorporates earthquakes, waves, and rocks.
Christchurch – World Ruck
In Christchurch, where the England team will be based for almost three weeks during the tournament, a NZ$60 million upgrade of the city’s stadium has been completed. Organisers are setting the stage for seven RWC 2011 matches with big inner-city plans at Cathedral Square and an extension to the tram line.
Stadium Christchurch’s capacity has been boosted to 40,000, making it the second largest sporting venue in New Zealand. The new 13,000-seat Deans Stand is the centrepiece of the redevelopment.
Cathedral Square – the city’s central point – is destined for a major rugby-style makeover as it’s converted into a mini rugby field beside a giant domed ‘World Ruck’ cafe / exhibition / reception facility. The rugby field will be complete with turf, embankments and two “massive” screens showing all 48 RWC 2011 games. Crowds on their way to Stadium Christchurch will follow a pedestrian ‘Rugby Road’ with entertainment en route adding to the festival atmosphere.
Dunedin – Southern hospitality
Dunedin’s RWC build-up centres on the new NZ$198 million Forsyth Barr or Otago Stadium, which is due for completion in August 2011.
Matches for RWC 2011 have been awarded to Carisbrook, Dunedin’s main domestic and international rugby union venue – nicknamed “the house of pain” – but a decision will be made later this year as to whether the matches will be transferred to the new stadium.
The www.spinitwide2011.co.nz website – grouping New Zealand’s southern regions – is already counting down the days with fan and event information. The ‘Spin it Wide’ campaign is masterminding a full calendar of events that will show off the region’s “legendary southern hospitality” during the 44-day rugby festival.
Dunedin is planning live entertainment and a big television screen in the central Octagon area, and Queenstown’s fan zone will be at lakefront Earnslaw Park. In the deepest south, Invercargill is also preparing a dedicated rugby zone.
Hospitality industry plans
Between 10,000 and 15,000 staff will be required to serve the 1.7 million fans expected to attend 48 matches over 45 days in 13 rugby stadiums across New Zealand.
RNZ 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden says New Zealand wants to show it can deliver great rugby, great times and great hospitality to meet the high expectations of visitors and locals.
Other national initiatives include restructuring the school terms to allow a longer than usual October school holiday, while Air New Zealand is gearing up to significantly increase seats on domestic routes from early 2011 and for the duration of the tournament.
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