Party Time

Back in 2005, when I was working in Scotland, New Zealand put together a superb bid for the Rugby World Cup, doing everything they could. We were competing against the likes of South Africa and Japan, and we just don’t have the money or resources to compete against the big boys. So we got all the heavy hitters we could – the Prime Minister and the All Black captain of the time made a presentation to the IRB, Colin Meads went out drinking with his old rugby buddies, twisting a few arms in Dublin bars in the wee hours.

We last hosted the World Cup in 1987, back when it was a small event, where you could go and buy a ticket to final the day before the game. Times have changed, and people didn’t think this little country could cope with the changed expectations. Not enough money or people, small stadiums, timezones don’t work well for Brits watching the games, etc…

But  somehow, we just managed to sneak in. Everyone knows that this  is the last time a country this small will host the tournament. Wouldn’t matter if we won every RWC for the next 30 years, the best we’ll get in future will be a handful of matches if Australia hosts it. So bugger it, we’re making the most of this chance.

There’s been plenty of arguments over the years, plenty of bureaucrats engaging in pointless arguments, silly decisions being made about not building a decent stadium down by the waterfront, endless roadworks around the city…but it doesn’t matter anymore.

Because things have finally kicked off, and in superb fashion. New Zealanders tend to be a reserved lot, but this time we seem to have lost some of that – people were out in hundreds of thousands, flags and decorations are everywhere, everyone’s wearing black jerseys, everyone is out there celebrating.  Last Friday most of Auckland seemed to knock off early, and head down the recently revamped waterfront. What was an industrial liquids storage facility – i.e. a tank farm – has been partially overhauled into a park, play area, and strip of restaurants and bars, linked to the existing Viaduct area by a bridge that can be raised to let yachts through.

Normally the weather in Auckland in September is not up to much. Cold, blustery, showery weather would be par for the course. As indeed it has been this week. But last Friday even the weather played its part – clear skies, warm temperatures, mild winds. So the play areas were full of kids, the bars and restaurants packed out early, and those that couldn’t get in just lined the waterfront. Mostly dressed in black, and everyone having a great time. Yes there was overcrowding, and no, not everything went well – vis. the train meltdown – but it didn’t really matter. Auckland has probably never looked better.

My father always told me that “It’s not what you know, but who you know that counts.” This proved very true for Anna and I. A friend just so happened to be organising an event near the top of a tower building right beside the waterfront. His company was moving out of the building, but the lease hadn’t quite expired. No furniture left, but fabulous views…and they’d trucked in a heap of free food and drink. Perfect. They even had a couple of TVs so we could watch the opening ceremony and game. We live quite close to the city, so all we had to do was walk down.

Here’s a few shots of what it was like:

It was a bit of a long afternoon and evening, so by the time we were walking home through the Viaduct, it was carnage. Had to make a stop at the petrol station on the way, pick up a 2L bottle of chocolate milk for the next day. Very much required.