Well, it’s finally here – the Rugby World Cup 2011 ©. (For legal reasons I’m not really allowed to use the phrase ‘Rugby World Cup 2011’ – and should probably say ‘You
Know What 2011’ instead.
Years of waiting and fevered preparation have finally come
to fruition with around 80,000 foreign fans expected to arrive at some stage
over September / October, to attend matches and to participate in rugby–related
tourism activities in our fair land. As
I have blogged
previously there was much pre RWC2011© hysteria and wild predictions of an economic
mini boom for poor old recessed, earthquaked NZ.
The reality is – airlines, hotels, pub bars and restaurants
have had a good couple of weeks (in Auckland anyway). But the by-catch for other tourism ventures
has been minimal. A friend who knows
these things told me that even the brothels haven’t picked up any extra business. For me, wine tour wise, not much at all – but just
the odd two-person booking here and there. (If the fans don’t want wine or women, then
the Karaoke bars must be going nuts.)
Yet I do wonder how 60,000 fans can attend a rugby match between
France and the All Blacks last night –
and not one of ‘em feels the urge to head out with Phil to quaff some fine NZ
wines a mere 20 minutes from downtown Auckers.
It’s not as if I haven’t put in the groundwork with a revamped website, five downtown
brochure rack displays, and a local Auckland A-Z visitor guide print advert, in
addition to schmoozing all the high end hotel concierges. It’s still five weeks
till the Final so we shall see …
The tally so far:
Eleven male Aussies here for the first Ireland/Australia
game last Saturday. They had been drinking
all night and were 40 minutes late getting the group together. Eleven hung-over and still plastered,
unshaven Aussies is not a pretty sight, I can assure you. Still, they rallied and the loud conversation,
foul language and sheep-shagging jokes flowed as freely as the wine down their
throats - and I emptied them out at their hotel around three p.m., after a trip
to a liquor outlet for them to get a few dozen beers for the pre-match hour or
two.
Tuesday – a charming 50-ish Japanese couple over here to
support their home team, The Cherry Blossoms.
In the macho world of rugby, surely they could have come up with
something a bit grittier. The Wasabi
Warriors? The Flying Fugu Fish?
Sunday (today) - a
Japanese mother and daughter also here following their national rugby team.
That’s it! Wish me
luck!