By CHRIS RATTUE
Poor Eden Park. They've tarted the old dear up and now, thanks to people in Wellington, Sydney and Dublin, the venue's moment on the world sporting stage has been hijacked.
Sitting in the stands on Saturday night, watching the Blues beat the Chiefs, brought home what New Zealand
has lost in the World Cup debacle.
Eden Park is hardly state-of-the-art. They're forever knocking down more advanced arenas than this in America. But our Garden of Eden was still good enough for a World Cup semifinal. And while John O'Neill played the flash Harry and waved wads of Aussie dollars to buy the semifinal before he nicked it anyway, there are some things you cannot put a price on.
Remember, there are plenty of people around town who can tell you where they were when New Zealand won the first World Cup in 1987 - they were at Eden Park.
The New Zealand Rugby Football Union was virtually handed the World Cup, and it was its job to ensure that at least a slice of this country's rugby public had the chance to say, "I was there." Instead, it has blown it.
Fervent, though, does not always translate into fervour when it comes to our live audiences. It was like that on Saturday night, among the crowd of 28,000. The occasional "You're worse than Honiss" aimed by one character at referee Lyndon Bray was about as fervent as it got in the stand behind the goalposts.
The Chiefs' bosses were also right when they suggested that their travelling support dwindled at night games, partly because driving on State Highway 1 between Auckland and Hamilton in the dark is not one of the great acts of self-preservation.
There was only one item in the terraces that could respectfully be called a Chiefs flag.
New Zealand sport tries to stir passions that aren't there by playing music that shouldn't be there. It's music that feels like you're being hit on the head with a hammer. The only time the people around me seemed to enjoy the musical intrusion was during Roger Miller's King of the Road, which is the sort of music that feels like someone is hitting you on the head with a feather.
Music and technology are the new frontiers of live sports. Sometimes technology works. Diehards opposed the video referee but it has added credibility to rugby by truly evaluating whether tries are scored, as happened three times on Saturday night.
The video ref also breaks down barriers. Strangers stare upwards at giant screens and discuss Rule 20 Subsection B as the video man views the replay for the 20th time.
Sometimes technology doesn't work. At kickoff on Saturday there was still a queue waiting to get in. The line of those who had pre-paid their tickets snaked under a stand that was named after a bank - appropriate, because the fans hadn't banked on this. Some early payers were receiving their tickets 25 minutes into the game.
And who needs an electronic clock that counts the game down to zero, if the game continues a couple of minutes afterwards?
It's tough on spectators. If the result changes during this "extra" time, the losers feel robbed. If the result holds, the winners have suffered unnecessary agony while the losers were given false hope.
Just like those troops who thought they might see a World Cup semifinal.
By CHRIS RATTUE
Poor Eden Park. They've tarted the old dear up and now, thanks to people in Wellington, Sydney and Dublin, the venue's moment on the world sporting stage has been hijacked.
Sitting in the stands on Saturday night, watching the Blues beat the Chiefs, brought home what New Zealand
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