World Cup to kick off in distinctively Pacific style
Source: Agencies |
September 8, 2011, Thursday
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The Rugby World Cup is destined to start with a loud, angry and physical confrontation, even before kickoff when New Zealand opens against Tonga.
The Tongans won a toss of the coin which allows them to start their Sipi Tau, or cultural challenge, as the International Rugby Board describes it, tomorrow night before the All Blacks start their world-famous haka at Auckland's Eden Park.
But as tournament director Kit McConnell revealed yesterday, the rival war dances could be almost simultaneous.
Tonga "will go first. It's up to the All Blacks to determine when and how they respond to that," McConnell said.
"It's not up to us to tell the teams how they choose to perform their challenge."
However long it takes or whomever crosses the line, it's certainly going to get the seventh edition under way in the distinctively Pacific style which local organizers are hoping to promote for the six-week World Cup, the first in New Zealand since the inaugural tournament in 1987. That was the last time the All Blacks won the title, and every edition since then the pressure from a rugby crazy New Zealand public to win a second title has intensified.
Two days ahead of kickoff of the 48-match tournament, 1,000 tickets were still available for the opening match.
Organizing committee chairman Martin Snedden expected them to sell quickly. Snedden, a former New Zealand test cricketer, has batted away concerns over ticket sales in recent weeks. Ticket sales so far of NZ$246 million (US$204 million) were only NZ$22 million shy of target forecasts for the tournament, the only revenue the hosts keep for staging the tournament.
"That's 10 times bigger than any previous event held in New Zealand," Snedden said. "We've got 45 days to sell that NZ$22 million. In the last 100 days, we've done NZ$77 million. We're going to hit this target. The intensity of ticket sales in the last few days is just snowballing, and I don't have any reason to think that's going to stop."
He also defended the ticket pricing, which can range from about NZ$390 to NZ$1,200 for the final and from about NZ$100 to NZ$450 for the opening match and which some critics have said are beyond the average wage earner in New Zealand. Half of the tickets still remain unsold for the opening match are in the highest category.
Did organizers get the pricing right? "Absolutely, we're happy," Snedden said. "This will be the biggest crowd we've had here for a game for 50 years."
The Tongans won a toss of the coin which allows them to start their Sipi Tau, or cultural challenge, as the International Rugby Board describes it, tomorrow night before the All Blacks start their world-famous haka at Auckland's Eden Park.
But as tournament director Kit McConnell revealed yesterday, the rival war dances could be almost simultaneous.
Tonga "will go first. It's up to the All Blacks to determine when and how they respond to that," McConnell said.
"It's not up to us to tell the teams how they choose to perform their challenge."
However long it takes or whomever crosses the line, it's certainly going to get the seventh edition under way in the distinctively Pacific style which local organizers are hoping to promote for the six-week World Cup, the first in New Zealand since the inaugural tournament in 1987. That was the last time the All Blacks won the title, and every edition since then the pressure from a rugby crazy New Zealand public to win a second title has intensified.
Two days ahead of kickoff of the 48-match tournament, 1,000 tickets were still available for the opening match.
Organizing committee chairman Martin Snedden expected them to sell quickly. Snedden, a former New Zealand test cricketer, has batted away concerns over ticket sales in recent weeks. Ticket sales so far of NZ$246 million (US$204 million) were only NZ$22 million shy of target forecasts for the tournament, the only revenue the hosts keep for staging the tournament.
"That's 10 times bigger than any previous event held in New Zealand," Snedden said. "We've got 45 days to sell that NZ$22 million. In the last 100 days, we've done NZ$77 million. We're going to hit this target. The intensity of ticket sales in the last few days is just snowballing, and I don't have any reason to think that's going to stop."
He also defended the ticket pricing, which can range from about NZ$390 to NZ$1,200 for the final and from about NZ$100 to NZ$450 for the opening match and which some critics have said are beyond the average wage earner in New Zealand. Half of the tickets still remain unsold for the opening match are in the highest category.
Did organizers get the pricing right? "Absolutely, we're happy," Snedden said. "This will be the biggest crowd we've had here for a game for 50 years."
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