Eden Park Four Nations – “Disgraceful” Behaviour Slammed

Earlier today we wrote about the alcohol fuelled mayhem at last night’s Four Nation’s match at Eden Park. Read Drunken fans marr Eden Park’s Four Nations

This is a video of one of the bottle throwing incidents at the match, it appeared on YouTube today

“Eden Park November 6th. New Zealand V Australia. Unfortunately when the convicts took a convincing lead half way through the second half, the crowd went feral, chucking bottles and everything onto lower bays and the field. This was about the fourth time around, so most of the f-wits had exhausted their supply of missiles, but as you can see, they were still throwing quite a lot of stuff. It was like being at a Canterbury Bulldogs match.”

League Ambassador Sir Peter Leitch is reported to have criticised security staff for not being quicker to deal with “rowdy people”

Fights and bottle-throwing at last night’s league test has brought criticism of fans and security this morning.

The match between the Kiwis and the Australian league teams was a rehearsal for next year’s Rugby World Cup.

League Ambassador Sir Peter Leitch has criticised security staff, saying they should have acted quicker and thrown rowdy people out. He’s also taken a swing at the fans. “I was appalled at the behaviour” He told Newstalk ZB “people who threw bottles, be they plastic bottles, disgrace. Very disappointing.”

He says the behaviour put the game into disrepute.

Perhaps the consumption of alcohol on sale at the match and its ‘delivery system’ (bottles) was more to blame than the security staff. Look at the video – it’s hard to see how staff could’ve stopped the bottle throwing.

Comments left on this YouTube video

“therealgamerman64
“The crowd was a disgrace. There was no way the security could stop everyone from acting like they did. It was terrible! Check out all those bottles! That Mexican wave of doom went around 3 times. I was seeing little kids get nailed in the head by half full bottles of beer.”

Usag1Yoj1mbo
“Until alcohol is banned from sporting events, I will never take my kids to watch these games. Atre you there to watch 2 teams of athletes play or get pissed, start a fight and injure an elderly fan with a half full bottle of beer.

New Zealand supporters are disgusting, oafish animals.”

Australia’s Courier Mail picked-up on the game turning ugly, saying that Cameron Smith had thought officials had done a good job and praised them for their efforts:

“The only other league game played at the ground was the 1988 World Cup final won 25-12 by an Australian team captained by Queenslander, Wally Lewis who was at Eden Park last night working for Channel 9.

No-one dared throw a bottle at “The King”, but they did throw a bottle at last night’s captain, Cameron Smith as he lined up a kick for goal

Smith said he felt in most danger sitting on the bench close to the crowd, and that was when Civoniceva took the direct hit from the full plastic bottle.

“I was ducking when I was on the bench,” he said. “I thought the officials did a good job. They stopped the game once to calm the crowd down and get bottles off the field.

“I had something come over my left shoulder when I was lining up a kick for goal. I’m not sure what it was. They try to put you off, but I composed myself and put the ball between the posts.

“I don’t think I’ve ever sung the national anthem while people were booing in the middle of it. Obviously they are very passionate about their side and their country, and they’re trying to get their side over the line.”

Australian coach Tim Sheens said he was proud of his men for producing such a great effort under adversity.

“They did everything they could to intimidate us, and it was pretty hard when you think we had four debutants,” Sheens said. “We played smart footy. More here

Sharp Rise In Burglaries After Christchurch Quakes

The Press is reporting that there was a sharp rise in “burglaries” following the quakes that hit Canterbury and Christchurch.

Reports of looting (“police staff in the city centre have clamped down on any reports of looting“) have been largely suppressed since the quakes started but it has just been confirmed that there’s been a 22% spike in burglaries (compared to a five year average) in the three weeks following the first quake on 4 Sept.

That’s a total of 322 burglaries, further adding to the misery of people who lost the security of their homes to the quakes and who are, to this day, enduring numerous aftershocks and quakes.

Keith Lynch, writing for The Press, reported Detective Senior Sergeant John Rae as saying

“A quarter of the properties hit were vacant because they were unoccupied rentals, damaged by the earthquake or the occupants were away.

Thirty-five properties (11 per cent) were targeted specifically for scrap metal, including hot water cylinders.

The high price for scrap metal, particularly copper, meant the items were easily sold on.” Read his full report here

According to the article only seventeen people have been arrested and charged with burglary or receiving scrap metal since the initial earthquake.

For more of our blogs about Looting in Christchurch click here

You may also be interested in

Christchurch street robberies “almost endemic” says judge – June 2010

Christchurch home invader strangles boy’s  pet dog in front of him -  June 2010

For more about court proceedings in Christchurch visit Courtnews.co.nz and for all of our blogs tagged Christchurch click here

North Island Eruption Threat “Real” Warns Expert

“An eruption is coming, warns GNS Science volcanologist Dr Graham Leonard, and anyone living pretty much north of Wellington should be prepared.

Leonard is part of a group of volcano experts advising local bodies, emergency services, government agencies and district health boards at a conference in Taupo this week, on how they can best prepare to cope with the aftermath of an eruption.

The venue is deliberately fitting – the Taupo volcanic zone is the most productive volcanic system on Earth. Eruptions, when they happen, are big.

Participants will be told it’s not the lava or the possibility of lahar that Kiwis need worry about, but ash. “Lava flows and lahars are very damaging, but they tend to be local. We spend a lot of time talking about volcanic ash because worldwide it’s the most disruptive and travels a long way.”…

Read the rest of the report by Susan Pepperell in NZ’s Sunday Star Times

See also our blog : Mass aircraft grounding possible in NZ too, scientists say, April 2010

“The NZ Geological Survey has issued a press release saying that aviation in New Zealand could also be affected by ash from New Zealand’s active volcanoes and that an eruption the same size as the last one at Lake Taupo could seriously affect 200,000 people in the centre of the North Island.

Mount Ruapehu typically has small eruptions every dozen or so years and larger eruptions about twice a century. Many people will experience it at least once in their lifetimes and should start planning for it because even minor eruptions can cause a lot of problems. In the mid 1990s no-fly zones were declared in the North Island and 11 airports closed, causing disruption to thousands of passengers:…”

 

Drunken Fans Marr Eden Park’s Four Nations

Today’s Herald is reporting that drunken league fans marred last night’s Four Nations match between the Kiwis and Australia at Eden Park, when hails of beer bottles rained on to the pitch.

This is but one of the  consequences of selling alcohol in bottles -sooner or later drunk people are going to use them as missiles and even plastic ones have the potential to cause injury, someone should have ‘seen this coming.’

Booze-charged rugby league fans threw bottles on to Eden Park and booed during last night’s Four Nations clash between the Kiwis and Australia.

Six people were arrested inside the ground for disorder related behaviour.

New Zealand Rugby League chief Jim Doyle said he was disappointed in fans’ behaviour but he believed Eden Park management would have learnt a lot from last night’s test…

…Meanwhile, the roads around Eden Park became chaotic when cars tried to merge with pedestrians after the match. Roads were closed to ensure fans got into the park smoothly, a key aspect of the planning for the RWC. Read more here (link opens in new window)

The Sunday Star Times adds the following information

“RUGBY LEAGUE’S foray into Eden Park ended in disgrace with a bottle thrown at an Australian player and ugly scenes of crowd unrest which led to numerous arrests in Auckland last night.

As an early dress rehearsal for the rugby world cup, which will conclude at the same venue in less than a year, the double-header league match (England v Papua New Guinea, and New Zealand v Australia) was logistically successful but the crowd misbehaviour tarnished the event.

A bottle was thrown at Australian captain Cameron Smith as he lined up a kick at goal and the game was briefly halted after bottles were hurled during a Mexican wave. More here

But the situation is likely to occur again during the Rugby World Cup next year.

Some elements of the crowd could be heard booing during the Australian national anthem, Prime Minister John Key was disappointed at the “loutish behaviour”

“We’re disappointed at some of the loutish behaviour last night and hope it won’t transfer over to the Rugby World Cup,

At the end of the day people are going to pay a lot for Rugby World Cup tickets and they’ve got to realise if they engage in that sort of behaviour their actions are going to be taken seriously and they will be tossed out. “[Internationally] it’s not a good look.” source

The shameful behaviour also attracted international attention, this from LeagueFreak.com:

One other things from this game, the crowd behaviour was terrible. Bottles were thrown on the field (One apparently hit Petero Civoniceva  in the back) (ed. an Australian), people ran onto the playing surface….just ridiculous stuff in this day and age.

You may remember our blog Price gouging and cleaning up at the rugby world cup written in May.  In that blog we said:

Beer to be sold in cans despite opposition from police.

“Be sure to pack a hard hat and body armour if you’re attending any matches in New Zealand. If you’re playing on the pitch you’d better learn to duck:

“Police pushed for beer to be served in plastic cups to minimise the risk of them being used as missiles by intoxicated fans, but it is understood there was also opposition to that from principal sponsor, Heineken…

“arranging tap beer facilities would have been costly for 9 of the 13 stadia which didn’t already have such facilities.” source*

Score so far: Sponsors 1, Police 0.”

If this can’t be controlled at Eden Park, what hope is there for the regional stadia?

Perhaps it’s time to put aside the interests of the principal sponsors and get tap beer facilities into every stadium asap.

*unfortunately that link is no longer active as the article has been withdrawn, however it is discussed on the forum at UAFC.co.uk

“RWC fans trusted to behave with beer cans

Rugby World Cup organisers have settled on a deal to allow beer to be served in cans at matches during the tournament, despite initial opposition from police and Police Minister Judith Collins.

Police pushed for beer to be served in plastic cups to minimise the risk of them being used as missiles by intoxicated fans, but it is understood there was also opposition to that from principal sponsor, Heineken.

Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully told Radio New Zealand the stakeholders in next year’s tournament had discussed the issue of how to serve beer, and tried to “steer a middle course” while allowing for cans to be served.

The way forward was to put some trust in people who would be paying a lot of money for tickets, and give police the capacity to deal with the minority who may step out of line.

Mr McCully said arranging tap beer facilities would have been costly for nine of the 13 stadia which didn’t already have such facilities.

He was confident fans would want to make the most of a unique experience in attending rugby World Cup matches and not risk being thrown out because of intoxicated behaviour.

If fans did step out of line, police would have enhanced capability to deal with them, he said.

Ms Collins said she had considered the proposal to allow the sale of beer in cans and was now comfortable with the arrangement.

Is Mr McCully still feeling confident?

A poster on the UAFC forum hinted at a possible solution:

Re: Watching rugby in New Zealand not all it’s cracked up to be

by mikerob » Tue Mar 30, 2010 3:39 pm

IMO the RWC in NZ is bit of a waste of time… won’t make money or develop the game globally… but at least you can get beer. In France 2007, they only had alcohol free drinks in and around the grounds.