Martin Snedden: Team effort for Cup success at crucial venue

Kiwis must focus on being good hosts to international visitors, regardless of whether the All Blacks win or lose. Photo / Dean Purcell

Opinion

I could argue till I'm blue in the face that it was a game of league, not rugby.

And that none of the Rugby World Cup 2011 security or alcohol-management plans were being tested, and that what happened at Eden Park on Saturday night was simply not our problem.

But it is. Running something as major as next year's event is just as much a confidence game as it is about getting things dead right operationally.

Eden Park, as host of the final (and eight other matches) is our most crucial venue. Public confidence in the venue has been dented for the moment. It is something that we must take serious notice of and learn from.

And we must do what we can to enable people to be confident that something similar won't happen again next year.

There are a several comprehensive reviews under way, which no doubt will identify lessons which Eden Park and others can reflect upon and use to drive improvement. But in the context of the RWC, here are two ways we have been working to address these issues.

CROWD BEHAVIOUR

The behaviour of a small but visible minority was completely unacceptable.

Clearly alcohol was one influencing factor. Our attitude towards Australian teams might well have been another. And the performance of our own team might also be relevant.

Regardless of why these problems occurred, as Tuesday's NZ Herald editorial noted, if repeated during the RWC they would cause immense damage to our hosting of the event and to New Zealand's reputation.

There is always a risk that the All Blacks will not meet our very high expectations next year.

If they don't, our sense of sportsmanship will be tested to the hilt. If that happens, how will we react?

For some time now we have been seeking to persuade Kiwis that the biggest opportunity we have next year is our hosting of this event.

We get a chance to win the Webb Ellis Cup every four years. We get the chance to host this event once in a blue moon.

Not many of our thousands of international visitors will care much about the All Blacks' fortunes. All they will care about is how they are treated by us while here as our guests. We must collectively make sure that the hosting experience we deliver is something special.

If this hosting message is something Kiwis understand and embrace by the time our event begins, this in itself will lay the foundation for good crowd behaviour and will significantly reduce, and maybe even eliminate, the risk of a repeat of Saturday night.

CROWD CONTROL

In respect to next year's RWC, crowd control has been an issue high on our radar for some time. For the past two years we have been working with police, the Alcohol Liquor Advisory Council, district licensing authorities and others on an alcohol-management plan for all 13 match venues.

We are close to finalising that plan. For the first time in New Zealand, all of our venues will be obliged to apply for a customised RWC 2011 liquor licence, the terms of which will be consistent across each venue.

Features of this will include:

* Increased numbers and visibility of security staff and police;Significantly increased monitoring of patron behaviour by trained staff, which will start before patrons enter the venue and will continue for the whole event with the aim of early identification and removal of likely troublemakers;

* Reduction or termination of alcohol sales if necessary;

* Free water and a range of low-alcohol and non-alcoholic drinks and food;

* Improved training to help catering staff deal with intoxicated patrons.

In the end, it's all about finding the right balance. During the RWC, tolerance of the minority troublemakers will be at a level far lower than appears to have been the case on Saturday night.

The priority for all of us involved in making this event a success will be to ensure that the vast majority of people who go to a RWC match to enjoy the experience actually get a chance to do so.

* Martin Snedden is chief executive officer of Rugby New Zealand 2011.