NZ “Not As Squeaky Clean As People May Perceive”

 1981 Springbok tour, dark days for NZ

The Rugby World Cup is very likely to become a focus for civil disobedience among NZ protest groups who are threatening civil disobedience and the flour bombing of matches.

“…Groups protesting against Government economic policies are proposing “civil disobedience” to disrupt the Rugby World Cup – possibly including flour-bombing Eden Park.

The protesters, including unions and church groups, plan to march up Queen St in Auckland from noon tomorrow against last week’s Budget cuts to KiwiSaver, family tax credits and public services and state asset sales.

Spokesman Meredydd Barrar of the newly formed Coalition for Social Justice said the groups also “intend to take action during the World Cup to alert the world that New Zealand is not as squeaky clean as people might perceive. We might have to flour-bomb Eden Park again,” he said.

Anti-apartheid protesters famously dropped bags of flour over the stadium from a plane during the final test of the Springbok rugby tour in 1981…” read the rest in The Herald

During the 1981 Springbok tour ("The Flour Bomb Test") Eden Park was peppered with flour bombs and flares dropped from a low flying Cessna. All Black prop Gary Knight was knocked to the ground by a flour bomb. Outside the ground violence erupted on a grand scale.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkZMIySG75c]

In Hamilton the match against Waikato was called off in front of a full house after a pitch invasion by several hundred anti-tour protestors, and rumours that a light aircraft had been stolen from Taupo and was headed for Rugby Park. (source)

New Zealand Exposed

Among the people threatening to disrupt the tournament are Maori activists Titewhai Harawira and Ngaire Te Hira. In February they announced they were going to use the Rugby World Cup to "expose" New Zealand's treatment of Maori.

Titewhai Harawira was reported as saying

"We are going to use the international media to expose what is going on in this country," she told the Sunday Star-Times.

"I want to be telling international media that all those reports they get that say we are well looked after and our land is intact are rubbish. We are going to be talking to the international media, absolutely."

Harawira said she hoped to provide visitors with a "whole chronology of what has happened in this country".

"I will talk about how legislation has taken away and denied us," she said. "We have time to put it all together, hand it out and talk about it." read more here

Unite Union is running a campaign for a $15 an hour ($12 US) minimum wage and is says it "plans to use activities around the Rugby World Cup to press hard for the significant increase in the minimum wage."

Of course getting the truth out about New Zealand is nothing new.

There are people who have been exposing the truth about New Zealand for many years. A group of expatriates set up a website called Expatexposed.com to draw attention to the raw deals that migrants get in New Zealand. Many of its members were taken-in by misleading marketing and the promises of work and higher living standards that never materialised.

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Eden Park Four Nations – “Disgraceful” Behaviour Slammed

Earlier today we wrote about the alcohol fuelled mayhem at last night’s Four Nation’s match at Eden Park. Read Drunken fans marr Eden Park’s Four Nations

This is a video of one of the bottle throwing incidents at the match, it appeared on YouTube today

“Eden Park November 6th. New Zealand V Australia. Unfortunately when the convicts took a convincing lead half way through the second half, the crowd went feral, chucking bottles and everything onto lower bays and the field. This was about the fourth time around, so most of the f-wits had exhausted their supply of missiles, but as you can see, they were still throwing quite a lot of stuff. It was like being at a Canterbury Bulldogs match.”

League Ambassador Sir Peter Leitch is reported to have criticised security staff for not being quicker to deal with “rowdy people”

Fights and bottle-throwing at last night’s league test has brought criticism of fans and security this morning.
The match between the Kiwis and the Australian league teams was a rehearsal for next year’s Rugby World Cup.
League Ambassador Sir Peter Leitch has criticised security staff, saying they should have acted quicker and thrown rowdy people out. He’s also taken a swing at the fans. “I was appalled at the behaviour” He told Newstalk ZB “people who threw bottles, be they plastic bottles, disgrace. Very disappointing.”
He says the behaviour put the game into disrepute.

Perhaps the consumption of alcohol on sale at the match and its ‘delivery system’ (bottles) was more to blame than the security staff. Look at the video – it’s hard to see how staff could’ve stopped the bottle throwing.

Comments left on this YouTube video

“therealgamerman64
“The crowd was a disgrace. There was no way the security could stop everyone from acting like they did. It was terrible! Check out all those bottles! That Mexican wave of doom went around 3 times. I was seeing little kids get nailed in the head by half full bottles of beer.”
Usag1Yoj1mbo
“Until alcohol is banned from sporting events, I will never take my kids to watch these games. Atre you there to watch 2 teams of athletes play or get pissed, start a fight and injure an elderly fan with a half full bottle of beer.
New Zealand supporters are disgusting, oafish animals.”

 
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Drunken Kiwi Fans Marr Eden Park's Four Nations

Today’s Herald is reporting that drunken league fans marred last night’s Four Nations match between the Kiwis and Australia at Eden Park, when hails of beer bottles rained on to the pitch.

This is but one of the  consequences of selling alcohol in bottles -sooner or later drunk people are going to use them as missiles and even plastic ones have the potential to cause injury, someone should have ‘seen this coming.’

Booze-charged rugby league fans threw bottles on to Eden Park and booed during last night’s Four Nations clash between the Kiwis and Australia.
Six people were arrested inside the ground for disorder related behaviour.
New Zealand Rugby League chief Jim Doyle said he was disappointed in fans’ behaviour but he believed Eden Park management would have learnt a lot from last night’s test…
…Meanwhile, the roads around Eden Park became chaotic when cars tried to merge with pedestrians after the match. Roads were closed to ensure fans got into the park smoothly, a key aspect of the planning for the RWC. Read more here (link opens in new window)

The Sunday Star Times adds the following information

“RUGBY LEAGUE’S foray into Eden Park ended in disgrace with a bottle thrown at an Australian player and ugly scenes of crowd unrest which led to numerous arrests in Auckland last night.
As an early dress rehearsal for the rugby world cup, which will conclude at the same venue in less than a year, the double-header league match (England v Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand v Australia) was logistically successful but the crowd misbehaviour tarnished the event.
A bottle was thrown at Australian captain Cameron Smith as he lined up a kick at goal and the game was briefly halted after bottles were hurled during a Mexican wave. More here

But the situation is likely to occur again during the Rugby World Cup next year.

Some elements of the crowd could be heard booing during the Australian national anthem, Prime Minister John Key was disappointed at the “loutish behaviour”

“We’re disappointed at some of the loutish behaviour last night and hope it won’t transfer over to the Rugby World Cup,
At the end of the day people are going to pay a lot for Rugby World Cup tickets and they’ve got to realise if they engage in that sort of behaviour their actions are going to be taken seriously and they will be tossed out. “[Internationally] it’s not a good look.” source

The shameful behaviour also attracted international attention, this from LeagueFreak.com:

One other things from this game, the crowd behaviour was terrible. Bottles were thrown on the field (One apparently hit Petero Civoniceva  in the back) (ed. an Australian), people ran onto the playing surface….just ridiculous stuff in this day and age.

You may remember our blog Price gouging and cleaning up at the rugby world cup written in May.  In that blog we said:

Beer to be sold in cans despite opposition from police.
“Be sure to pack a hard hat and body armour if you’re attending any matches in New Zealand. If you’re playing on the pitch you’d better learn to duck:

“Police pushed for beer to be served in plastic cups to minimise the risk of them being used as missiles by intoxicated fans, but it is understood there was also opposition to that from principal sponsor, Heineken…
“arranging tap beer facilities would have been costly for 9 of the 13 stadia which didn’t already have such facilities.” source*

Score so far: Sponsors 1, Police 0.”

If this can’t be controlled at Eden Park, what hope is there for the regional stadia?

Perhaps it’s time to put aside the interests of the principal sponsors and get tap beer facilities into every stadium asap.

*unfortunately that link is no longer active as the article has been withdrawn, however it is discussed on the forum at UAFC.co.uk

“RWC fans trusted to behave with beer cans
Rugby World Cup organisers have settled on a deal to allow beer to be served in cans at matches during the tournament, despite initial opposition from police and Police Minister Judith Collins.
Police pushed for beer to be served in plastic cups to minimise the risk of them being used as missiles by intoxicated fans, but it is understood there was also opposition to that from principal sponsor, Heineken.
Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully told Radio New Zealand the stakeholders in next year’s tournament had discussed the issue of how to serve beer, and tried to “steer a middle course” while allowing for cans to be served.
The way forward was to put some trust in people who would be paying a lot of money for tickets, and give police the capacity to deal with the minority who may step out of line.
Mr McCully said arranging tap beer facilities would have been costly for nine of the 13 stadia which didn’t already have such facilities.
He was confident fans would want to make the most of a unique experience in attending rugby World Cup matches and not risk being thrown out because of intoxicated behaviour.
If fans did step out of line, police would have enhanced capability to deal with them, he said.
Ms Collins said she had considered the proposal to allow the sale of beer in cans and was now comfortable with the arrangement.

Is Mr McCully still feeling confident?

A poster on the UAFC forum hinted at a possible solution:

Re: Watching rugby in New Zealand not all it’s cracked up to be

by mikerob » Tue Mar 30, 2010 3:39 pm

IMO the RWC in NZ is bit of a waste of time… won’t make money or develop the game globally… but at least you can get beer. In France 2007, they only had alcohol free drinks in and around the grounds.

 Catch an update to this story and video here
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New Zealand Is The "Gunna Country"

"Kiwis must make room for improvement at World Cup"

We came across another article raising concerns about New Zealand's ability to successfully host the Rugby World Cup, this time in the Sydney Morning Herald, where Greg Gowden spoke in less than glowing terms about the way spectators and fellow colleagues were treated as little more than just sheep at the recent Christchurch test - widely viewed as a dry-run for next year's tournament.

In his article Gowden talked about how the Christchurch test was good opportunity to see how the facilities would cope with a major international event. The Wallabies flew into Auckland to check out how efficient the customs facilities were for visiting teams.

Here are a few of his observations, firstly the Auckland arrivals hall that :

"...can be a debacle. Sure, New Zealanders are proud they are a wool nation, but it doesn't mean tourists have to be herded into a sheep pen. If you can get through the baggage area in less than half an hour, think yourself lucky. And then you have to confront the nightmare of travelling into Auckland where a highway suddenly dissolves into a one-lane suburban street, prompting delays and further frustration."

Both are major inconveniences - international travellers are well advised to allow for 60 minutes to clear baggage reclaim, get sniffed-out by a beagle and undergo customs and immigration formalities during busy periods at Auckland airport.

Once out of the terminal the Southwestern motorway abruptly discharges into the suburban streets of Epsom and nearby Mount Eden, before travellers jet-lagged and weary  eventually find their way onto the Southern Motorway and into the haven of the CBD.

Talking of Mount Eden, Gowden dryly comments that the locals tell him that getting to and from Eden Park (venue for the final) is like escaping Alcatraz. Take a quick look at the google map for the area and you'll see why:


View Larger Map
Surely in a country with a little over 4 million inhabitants it's not unreasonable to find a little bit of space in which to move?

After writing about the not inconsiderable problems getting to the AMI stadium in Christchurch and being herded into cramped conditions in a press box with limited visibility (again there is that sheep anaology) Gowden delivered the now customary  "great scenery, friendly locals" salve before the "Gunna Country" coup de gras:

"But a constant irritant is that New Zealand is the ''gunna'' country. They're gunna do this. They're gunna do that. They were doing it straight after being granted the World Cup. Politicians and officials were promising they would dramatically improve facilities, particularly accommodation, so visitors wouldn't have to sleep on park benches. What has happened? Not much.
Now they're saying fans will be berthed on ships, anchored offshore. Are they kidding? No wonder, when confronted by the exorbitant prices asked by the few hotels that have any rooms left, so many Australians believe it will be wiser to just travel over on game day, and take a flight home that night. New Zealand is better than this. We can only hope those who can make something change over the next 13 months get off their butts and sort it out."

13 months out from the tournament things should be a lot better organised by now, isn't it long past the time to pull out the proverbial finger - before Gunna turns into Shudda.

If you have time it's well worth reading the whole article at the SMH, you can find it here "Kiwis must make room for improvement at world cup"


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