Rotorua 'International' Stadium
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@Crash 4 games at Eden Park in one tour might be a little much. This isn't England.
I assume they really wanted a non-Super base, in which case the naki would have been the go.
Tauranga not having a stadium really is ridiculously short sighted.
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I didn't think Blue Chip or whatever it's called these days was too bad, on a visit there for a Canterbury VS BOP game. For some reason I picture it now as fully encircled by stands and all-seated but possibly the stands are shallow and well back from the pitch ?? Now I have to google it up....
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My 2c ...
It had to be played out of Auckland but close to there and near the majority of population.
It had to be a place with a lot of accommodation.
It had to be a reasonably large stadium.
Rotorua ticks all three despite the limitations of the facility.
Dunedin ticks one (stadium)
New Plymouth one and a half (a little further from Akl)
Napier maybe three halves.
Hamilton may have been an option ... but the Chiefs game ...
Wellington may have been a better bet but they have two games next week.
Tauranga - nuh
Palmy - nuh
North Harbour - well that's AucklandI can see the logic in Rotovegas. But as has been pointed out the stadium is not three best option.
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Rotorua has Is ground where the events management team always underestimate the set-up needed. In past years, even with a crowd of just 4,000or 5,000 expected, they still manage to have too few ticket booths operating. It's like they have a formula of: Expected Crowd + 70% of Required Resources = What What We'll Do Then Act Surprised.
Paradoxically, it's a great place to watch rugby when there's a small crowd. Not so much atmosphere wise though.
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Well I guess they've only had about 12 years to prepare.
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@booboo said in Rotorua 'International' Stadium:
My 2c ...
It had to be played out of Auckland but close to there and near the majority of population.
It had to be a place with a lot of accommodation.
It had to be a reasonably large stadium.
Rotorua ticks all three despite the limitations of the facility.
Dunedin ticks one (stadium)
New Plymouth one and a half (a little further from Akl)
Napier maybe three halves.
Hamilton may have been an option ... but the Chiefs game ...
Wellington may have been a better bet but they have two games next week.
Tauranga - nuh
Palmy - nuh
North Harbour - well that's AucklandI can see the logic in Rotovegas. But as has been pointed out the stadium is not three best option.
Why did it have to be played close to Auckland? It could easily have been played in Christchurch or Dunedin on the back of the Crusaders and Highlanders games.
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@shark said in Rotorua 'International' Stadium:
@booboo said in Rotorua 'International' Stadium:
My 2c ...
It had to be played out of Auckland but close to there and near the majority of population.
It had to be a place with a lot of accommodation.
It had to be a reasonably large stadium.
Rotorua ticks all three despite the limitations of the facility.
Dunedin ticks one (stadium)
New Plymouth one and a half (a little further from Akl)
Napier maybe three halves.
Hamilton may have been an option ... but the Chiefs game ...
Wellington may have been a better bet but they have two games next week.
Tauranga - nuh
Palmy - nuh
North Harbour - well that's AucklandI can see the logic in Rotovegas. But as has been pointed out the stadium is not three best option.
Why did it have to be played close to Auckland? It could easily have been played in Christchurch or Dunedin on the back of the Crusaders and Highlanders games.
Also would have encouraged a few more lions supporters down this way.
Whilst there was a good amount in Christchurch for the crusaders game, it was nothing like 12 years ago.
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@shark said in Rotorua 'International' Stadium:
@booboo said in Rotorua 'International' Stadium:
My 2c ...
It had to be played out of Auckland but close to there and near the majority of population.
It had to be a place with a lot of accommodation.
It had to be a reasonably large stadium.
Rotorua ticks all three despite the limitations of the facility.
Dunedin ticks one (stadium)
New Plymouth one and a half (a little further from Akl)
Napier maybe three halves.
Hamilton may have been an option ... but the Chiefs game ...
Wellington may have been a better bet but they have two games next week.
Tauranga - nuh
Palmy - nuh
North Harbour - well that's AucklandI can see the logic in Rotovegas. But as has been pointed out the stadium is not three best option.
Why did it have to be played close to Auckland? It could easily have been played in Christchurch or Dunedin on the back of the Crusaders and Highlanders games.
The reason for playing it close to Auckland because it's a week out from the first test in Auckland and they probably wanted somewhere where people could travel to/from without an extra flight.
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I don't think an extra flight was required given they could have flown (e.g.) Dunedin to Hamilton Sunday rather than Dunedin to Rotorua on a Wednesday.
However if as seems the only logical proposition you don't want to go to the SI twice then playing 3 games in two cities in 8 days probably wasn't the best option.
With hindsight the Prov Baba's could/should have been at N Plymouth and The Maori at Okara Park (or whatever its called nowadays)
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@dogmeat said in Rotorua 'International' Stadium:
I don't think an extra flight was required given they could have flown (e.g.) Dunedin to Hamilton Sunday rather than Dunedin to Rotorua on a Wednesday.
However if as seems the only logical proposition you don't want to go to the SI twice then playing 3 games in two cities in 8 days probably wasn't the best option.
With hindsight the Prov Baba's could/should have been at N Plymouth and The Maori at Okara Park (or whatever its called nowadays)
Okara Park and Rotorua Stadium are almost identical though.
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@Rapido yeah while it's great to get 20k through the gates in Whangarei, the grounds are not set up to adequately service that number.
An Irish guy commented in the toilets about how long he had to wait at half time and I just told him we normally get 1/4 of that number to games so isn't ever a concern, and given this happens so infrequently, it doesn't bother me
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@Rapido said in Rotorua 'International' Stadium:
@dogmeat said in Rotorua 'International' Stadium:
I don't think an extra flight was required given they could have flown (e.g.) Dunedin to Hamilton Sunday rather than Dunedin to Rotorua on a Wednesday.
However if as seems the only logical proposition you don't want to go to the SI twice then playing 3 games in two cities in 8 days probably wasn't the best option.
With hindsight the Prov Baba's could/should have been at N Plymouth and The Maori at Okara Park (or whatever its called nowadays)
Okara Park and Rotorua Stadium are almost identical though.
I was at both venues - both were wet as, with mud underfoot. Whangarei was much closer to town though - a relatively short walk. Rotorua suffered from the distance, and the need to bus everyone closer to the ground.
I say closer, as it was still a 10 minute walk to the bank
Also, having been to many rugby games, I expect not to eat or drink at the ground. Getting beers can often be a 20 minute round trip (or more at halftime), and it's just not worth it. Preload, sideload or just make do ... whatever works, but I personally have given up on getting service at busy stadia
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@dogmeat I think the point is I'd imagine for a lot of Lions tour party their first game was Rotorua. So if they base themselves in Auckland for the first test, arrive a week early and get to/from Rotorua easily.
The Crusaders specifically requested their game was early in the tour to increase it's hype and the Lions would have wanted to play the strongest two non-test teams (on paper) the two Saturdays before test 1.
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@KiwiMurph I was meaning change the venues nit the programme
@rapido Many years since the only time I attended Okara (GO HARBOUR) but I thought it had enjoyed a significant upgrade. To hear them up north speak it's the Allianz Stadium of the South Pacific whereas Rotorua is more like an Alliance abbatoir
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@KiwiMurph Not sure about this time, but in 2005 the Lions wanted their opening match in Whangarei.
@dogmeat you might be a cnut!
Nothing wrong with our stadium for our normal crowds of under 5000 -
@rapido Many years since the only time I attended Okara (GO HARBOUR) but I thought it had enjoyed a significant upgrade. To hear them up north speak it's the Allianz Stadium of the South Pacific whereas Rotorua is more like an Alliance abbatoir
Rotorua featured an old school, open air (no roof) urinal system with classic masonry half-pipes. Standing there in the pissing rain having a piss was super-ironic.
They seemed (in the low light) to have given the back of the urinal a good coat of paint though
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