Page 39 - All Blacks v Lions - First Test

IT’S JUST PAST MIDNIGHT.
The lights have all been switched off at FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton. The last
journalists have nished their work. For the moment, in the Media Centre, the SKY Television crew have unplugged all their cables, and the event management team have been able to take a collective nal breath to say it’s all over.
But then it’s all on again the next day – and so it will have been for each of the 10 matches of the DHL New Zealand Lions Series 2017. While the rugby- watching public have been able to arrive at the Stadium, take their seats, enjoy the pre-game entertainment and the match and then make their way home afterwards, there has been an unseen exercise going on out of sight to ensure all the facets of such a major enterprise go ahead without incident.
Nigel Cass, New Zealand Rugby’s General Manager of the DHL NZ Lions Series, took on the role three years ago full-time, but there had been planning for a couple of years before that. The tour isn’t just about the playing of the games – although that’s the most important part – but with the intense interest from touring fans, there’s also an opportunity to showcase the country. That involves securing Major Event status from the
NZ Government, which ensures a partnership with the Government in taking games and activities to the various cities involved around the country.
And while the major centres that regularly hold Test matches are
comfortable with all that’s involved in staging a Test, that isn’t the case for venues like Whangarei and Rotorua, which have staged games during the Series of a magnitude they haven’t dealt with since Rugby World Cup 2011.
Ensuring fantastic fan experiences means more activities to be organised – like in Rotorua, where the local district council helped organise fan trails and also the world record haka on the afternoon of the Maori All Blacks game.
“It’s about trying to make people’s lives easier and loving their NZ experience.”
In Auckland, it involves ensuring
fan activation zones are put in place
on Queen’s Wharf. It’s a similar case
on the Wellington waterfront for the second Test. Meanwhile, in Hamilton, Claudelands was set aside as a Campervan Zone for visiting tourists, and transport was organised from there to the ground. Many of these activities have been part of the Rugby 2017 Festival, which celebrates New Zealand, and which has run alongside the Series.
Cass said the intensity of delivering for fans was not the same as for the Rugby World Cup in 2011, but there were elements that were the same. One extra factor with the Lions was
the extended media contingent, with each of the four countries concerned having their own media. But Tourism New Zealand was involved in working with them not only at grounds, where the all-important Wi-Fi links are critical to operations, but also in ensuring the off- eld experience is memorable – even down to the point of arranging hot spring spas in Rotorua and wine tastings at several venues. “It’s all about trying to make people’s lives easier. We want them to be a little bit disappointed with their team’s performance, but having loved their New Zealand experience,” Cass says.
The execution of the off- eld activity is taken care of by having different crews running different games. That involves them working at two to three games, then going home and having a break before rejoining for later games. “At Rotorua, we actually had a triple header: two International Women’s Rugby Series matches and the Maori All Blacks – with the Pasi ka Challenge the night before in Auckland. So we have to make sure people stay healthy, get enough rest and sweat the big stuff,” Cass says.
“I remember at the 2007 Rugby World Cup when I worked with the French organiser [as a prelude to New Zealand staging the 2011 event] and he gave
me a great piece of advice. He said,
‘As long as the restaurant is fantastic,
it doesn’t matter if there is a little bit of chaos in the kitchen.’ So that involves being mainly concerned, on match day, with worrying about the things that affect the core delivery of the game.”
12 YEARS IN THE MAKING
From crisis management to Captain’s Runs, media management and even Wi-Fi demands, there are a lot of aspects both big and small to consider when hosting the DHL Lions New Zealand Series 2017.
WORDS: LYNN MCCONNELL
DHL NEW ZEALAND LIONS SERIES 2017 // 39