WELLINGTON, (Reuters) – Martin Snedden glances across the far left corner of his harbour-side office to the digital clock above the entrance to Rugby New Zealand 2011’s 11th-floor Wellington headquarters.
“What are we now?” the former New Zealand cricketer asks rhetorically as he tries to do a quick mental calculation. “Three, seventy….four days to go.
“Jeez. Where’s the time gone?”
The head of the organisers of next year’s rugby World Cup looks tired, and admits it.
He has had “a lot of 0430 starts” in the past few weeks as he travels around New Zealand visiting the 13 venues that will host the 48 matches of the Sept. 9-Oct. 23 tournament.
The day after he spoke to Reuters, he went to Australia to attend the opening of Tourism New Zealand’s giant rugby ball in Sydney ahead of the Tri-Nations test on Sept. 11.
Despite his hectic schedule and rash of early morning wake-up calls, Snedden said as the tournament approached its one-year countdown mark on Sept. 9, he was sure it would help re-invigorate his organisation and the country.
“We know that people are reasonably focused on rugby World Cup. Each time we go through a milestone, it does surprise me that that level of intensity jumps quite dramatically,” he said.
“When we went from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 (this year) and we started talking about rugby World Cup ‘next year’, I was really surprised at the level of activity that that sort of (milestone) generated.
“I have no doubt that with one year to go there will be another jump in intensity and of course at the end of the year when we move into 2011, absolutely.”
PRICE GOUGING
Snedden’s organisation, now 85-strong after initially starting in 2007 with just him and “a couple” of staff seconded from the New Zealand Rugby Union, has had to recently dampen down criticism on reports of inflated prices, particularly in food and accommodation.
Strangely, it’s criticism he has welcomed.
“Those conversations happening 12 to 15 months out from the tournament is good timing,” Snedden said. “It ensured there was a debate happening in New Zealand about pricing.
“It sent some quite important signals to people that you have to be really careful about hitting the right balance because if you don’t then the media exposure of this will be pretty significant and the reputation of both your business and New Zealand will suffer if you don’t get it right.
“The opportunity is not about making as much money as you can in a small amount of days of the rugby World Cup, it’s about creating or enhancing your reputation.”
ACCOMMODATION PROBLEMS
The country’s lack of high-end accommodation had also been highlighted, particularly in the final three weeks of the tournament when it is concentrated in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland.
Local media reported of some providers charging up to NZ$1,600 ($1,141) a night in bed and breakfast-style accommodation near Eden Park, while hoteliers have reportedly tripled room rates for the final few weeks in Auckland.
Australian media reported the high accommodation prices were prompting many of their fans to consider flying into New Zealand on the day of the Wallabies’ matches and leaving afterwards.
While acknowledging there had always been a expected problem with accommodation during that final period of the tournament, Snedden hoped a new Internet accommodation booking portal to be launched shortly would help alleviate some of the issues.
Three cruise ships, organised and being sold by the official travel and hospitality company as part of an accommodation, ticket and travel package, would also free up 5,500 beds on land.
The online booking system for airlines and hotels, which normally only show availability a year in advance, would also go live with relevant dates within the next month.
“From my observation from other major events that’s not unusual… everyone experiences the same thing at the peak times,” he said of the strain on accommodation.
“Once the online cycle kicks in and accommodation becomes available in October and November with pricing attached to it, then it’ll be a lot easier for people to see what the solutions are and what it will cost.
“Once people can see… what’s normal, and what’s not, pricing will become very important and the message should get through to the providers then.”
ON SCHEDULE
Snedden said the infrastructure was now “in pretty good shape” with the NZ$240 million redevelopment of Eden Park on schedule, while the new stadium in Dunedin should be completed on time by Aug. 1.
All of the other venues were completed, with some minor repair work needed to the roof of the grandstands in New Plymouth and to the cladding of the Wellington Stadium.
Organisers had also tested match day procedures, including traffic management, transportation and security, during New Zealand’s domestic international rugby programme.
“Organising the structure to run each of the 48 games is pretty massive. That process is under way, but it will be ongoing,” Snedden said. “We have been testing match management this year and that continues right up to the tournament.
“But the message is that our state of preparedness is pretty good. We’re in good shape, there’s still a year to go, but be confident.”
