Hard News: Pomp and Circumstance
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if we get through the next three years without Ministerial krumping I'll be happy
For me, exactly the opposite is true. If there's no Ministerial krumping at some point during this government's term, I'm writing the whole thing off as a dead loss!
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At least non-krumping would be better than line dancing any day. Actually, anything's better than line dancing any day.
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Wonder what Tau Henare thinks of his nil appointment.
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there are any number of large cultural and sporting events every year that stagger on without their own minister
I'm not a huge sports fan but I really don't think you're grasping what "large" means in this case, Craig.
Third biggest event of any type in the entire world and the largest ever held here.60 or 70,000 extra visitors and tv audience of 3 or 4 billion.
$280m in ticket sales. (Grain of salt time) half a billion dollars total spend, with half of that just in the Auckland region (spot the frayed logo in its native habitat).
Any country would apply some government effort, especially when the bid only succeeded because of the visible govt backing, and when they co-own the hosting company.
Of course I'm not denying that the interest of those like McCully has a fair whiff of junket about it..
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But I do agree about not wanting Ministers to embarras themselves by tryin to be down wif th yoof. :)
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Wonder what Tau Henare thinks of his nil appointment.
He feels like Weepu, apparently.
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Wonder what Tau Henare thinks of his nil appointment.
Quite understandably disappointed, but being rather grown up about it. And I understand that it's not unimaginable that he will end up as chairman of the Maori Affairs Select Committee.
I'm not a huge sports fan but I really don't think you're grasping what "large" means in this case, Craig.
I do, Sacha, but I don't actually think that the Rugby World Cup requires lashings of corporate welfare, and the total abandonment of any critical thinking whatsoever on the part of central and local body government. I'm no fan of Mallard, but I'm gob-smacked that he stormed into Auckland, presented a waterfront stadium plan I'd expect to see from a cowboy developer not a Minister of the Crown, then was all shocked when it went down like a bucket of cold sick.
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"Lashings of corporate welfare" seem to accompany the slightest mention of sporting events, for some reason. I don't buy it myself. Mind you, the crumbling footpaths are not likely to help coax the tourists into a retail frenzy either.
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Oh, screw it, if we get through the next three years without Ministerial krumping I'll be happy. Ish.
I knew there had to be a term for it. Thanks.
Former Victorian Premier Joan Kirner:
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Hang on, how can the RWC be the third biggest event in the world?
The World Cup and the Summer Olympics beat it; surely so do a least one, if not more, of the European Nation's Cup, the Champion's League, the Tour, the NBA Finals' series, the World's Series, the Superbowl, Indianapolis, and the golf and tennis majors?
I hate to say it, but there's an awful lot of marketing speak in those claims about the benefits of the RWC -- and I don't see why we should buy it all.
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Hang on, how can the RWC be the third biggest event in the world?
Look, it surprised me too. However, let's just check tv coverage for a couple of those other events (remembering that RWC claims 3 to 4 billion) -
some important matches can attract over 200 million TV audience
NFL press releases have stated that recent Super Bowls have been available to potential audiences of approximately one billion worldwide, although independent studies suggest that the average global viewership is just over 100 million
Obviously there are are other factors like live audience numbers, merchandising and so on. Someone who's more motivated can check the rest - but it seems unlikely that the RWC organisers and hangers on would make such a bold claim if it was dead easy to disprove.
As to the "benefits" and who should pay for them, I tend to agree with you.
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Look, it surprised me too. However, let's just check tv coverage for a couple of those other events (remembering that RWC claims 3 to 4 billion) -
The RWC raised a few smirks with that figure last time too, especially when one takes into account places like, uhh, most of Asia where it rarely gets a mention unless, of course the folks here have somehow heard of the sport in recent years.
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I think the RWC is counting entire populations in the countries where less than 1% might actually have an interest.
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Re Tau Henare
I could have sworn when I heard his Weepu comment on Morning Report that I heard Sean Plunket say something like "Except he has talent" but i can't find it on the RNZ website. -
Mark, if they're bullshitting then they're doing it three or four times more than the superbowl folks are. :)
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I'm no fan of Mallard, but I'm gob-smacked that he stormed into Auckland, presented a waterfront stadium plan I'd expect to see from a cowboy developer not a Minister of the Crown, then was all shocked when it went down like a bucket of cold sick.
Yeah. Plus aren't we glad that we didn't spend a billion dollars on a stadium now that we need every penny we can get. (Also, what would have been the betting that they'd have signed up sponsorship from a bank that promptly went bust).
I don't reckon there are more than 100 million rugby followers in the world, I'm thinking:
NZ 3.5 million
Aus 4 million (minority sport)
SA 6 million (Afrikaners and a few English speakers)
Wales 3 million
Scotland 2 million
England 10 million (minority sport)
Ireland 3 million
France 10 million
Italy 5 million
Argentina 5 million
Pacific Islands 1 million
Japan 5 million
plus odds and sods from around the world. -
Actually, anything's better than line dancing any day.
Nope! Line dancing EVERY day is worse than any day :)
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Rich, I think your French figure may be a little low..its a big sport there.
They formed a Rugby team in Jakarta a while back but the joke going around was that they've not played as they can't find another one.
I've been in Asia through a Soccer WC and a RWC and I know which one got the media coverage and which got fairly much ignored outside the Western expat communities.
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This may have been mentioned before, but urban legend has it that a certain high school in Melbourne, where two-thirds of the students are of ethnic minority descent - in Aussie terms that's mostly non-Polynesian ethnics - was unable to recruit enough players for its First XV. If anyone can Google that info, I'd be most grateful, because I haven't found it anywhere so far.
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When I grew up in Melbourne (the 70's) no school I'd ever heard of had a rugby team... League or Union.
In the 90's a friend in Melbourne was in a club rugby (union) team... there were not many teams in all of Melbourne.
Maybe things have changed, but I'm having trouble with your urban legend... not because one school couldnt find the numbers... but because rugby's so rare there (admittedly less so than before) that I dont think its expected that every (or even more than a few) schools would have a first fifteen....
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I don't know the story DeepRed and perhaps there's no Melburnians in the PAS community, however it seems likely. If you were talented at a rugby code and living in Victoria, you'd almost certainly take up League not Union.
You may know that Victoria's the heartland of AFL and Victorian's are as passionate about their footy clubs as NZers are of their rugby teams; perhaps more so as footy teams have probably been more stable over the years.
As an aside I once met a cabbie in Melbourne who'd stopped watching footy in 1996 because his team, Fitzroy, moved to Brisbane to become the Lions - the fact that went on to win three flags in a row only further enraged him.
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And talking about pomp and circumstance, am I the only person who thinks this is just a wee bit OTT:
If John Key pulls anything like this, I swear I'll be there to push the fucker down the steps.
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And talking about pomp and circumstance, am I the only person who thinks this is just a wee bit OTT:
Looks like a bunch of her supporters turning up to farewell her officially leaving her job and the building. What does it matter? Doesn't look like extensive taxpayer money went into it.
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Paul, I'd say more so with impunity having lived in NZ and Melbourne. In Melb, it was pretty much not allowed to not support a footy team. I picked one quite arbitrarily just to avoid the annoying arguments people would always pick with you if you didn't support one. In the same spirit as fobbing off Christians at the door by claiming some other religion. Don't EVER say you're an atheist unless you like talking to Christians at the door a lot. Don't EVER say you don't watch footy in Victoria, or there will be a press gang to convert you to their team every other minute.
I'm not sure why it's so. I think the Club-ness lends itself to fanaticism far more than regionally based teams can. Because a club really doesn't represent anything, it's much easier to become irrationally attached to it.
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And talking about pomp and circumstance, am I the only person who thinks this is just a wee bit OTT:
If they'd had a pipe band, I'd have agreed.
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