IN CASE YOU WERE ASLEEP cont...

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the ARU might try to pull o something like this. It is the equivalent of the Wallabies pretending they are interested in trying to scrum but really they are just going through the motions and playing for time by constantly collapsing. The New Zealand Rugby Union signed a sponsorship deal with Vodafone. But they were eager to tell everyone it was more than just a sponsorship deal – it was a bigger than Ben Hur because it was going to change the stadium experience for New Zealanders. There is going to be some super duper app where fans can watch replays in the stadium from all sorts of di erent angles and what not. That’s great but is the app also going to stand in the queue for warm, massively overpriced beers at the stadium? Will the app suck up all the grease o the crappy fish and chips that are on sale? What about getting to the stadium – can the app magic people there? Can the app put a roof on stadiums that don’t have one? Can the app knock some dosh o the ticket prices? Will the app stop the idiot next to you screaming at the ref all game while casually dropping his guts? And that’s the problem with this sort of feel-good, marketing crap that gets spouted. If NZR was serious about improving the stadium experience it would kick out all the crap food. It would stop looking to make so much money from stadium catering and open up the prospect of decent food providers being on-site. It would say to stadiums...stop charging people $9 for nasty, tasteless beer. It would say that it is not okay for fans to have to pay close to $5 for a bottle of water. It would say can we really have people paying $60 for an uncovered seat? The All Blacks are all about setting standards on the field so how about the same attitude is adopted when it comes to what happens o it? Why not make the stadium experience world class – di erent to everywhere else and not justify rubbish service and facilities on the basis that everyone around the world does the same thing.