‘Less fun’ has put Sevens under the gun
City officials insist the ‘‘Fun Police’’ have not driven partyloving fans away from the Wellington Sevens.
An occasion once billed as the capital’s party event of the summer is now struggling to attract fans through the turnstiles.
Just over half of Westpac Stadium was predicted to be full for this weekend’s two-day rugby extravaganza, which was now in its 18th year.
That was in sharp contrast to previous editions of the event when tickets would be snapped up in minutes.
In response to comments made by former Duco boss, Martin Snedden, about the Sevens approaching ‘‘the end of its lifecycle’’, many people criticised strict alcohol controls in place at the tournament.
In 2014, about 270 Sevens-goers were kicked out of the stadium for alcohol-related issues, with caterer Spotless taking responsibility for more than 100 breaches of liquor laws. Twenty arrests were also made - the disorder resulted in tighter booze controls.
‘‘It’s like a business. If a business is under-performing, we go and do a refurbishment, we do a makeover, invest some money in it and rebuild it into something that is as good or better than it was before,’’ Hospitality New Zealand Wellington branch president Jeremy Smith said.
However, Otago University sports marketing expert, Dr John Guthrie, felt resurrecting flagging interest in the Sevens was ‘‘always going to be hard work’’.
‘‘I think the Wellington crowd has just got a bit tired of it.’’
While he felt the Sevens brand still had pulling power, the shift away from its party reputation had put some fans off.
‘‘I’m not convinced that it will be an easy strategy to make the event totally family-friendly . . . it’s never been as productive as the 20 to 30-year-olds ‘mates day out’ kind of event,’’ Guthrie said.
Wellington deputy mayor Paul Eagle said stricter alcohol controls were necessary. ‘‘This is where I applaud New Zealand Rugby, because they worked within the new alcohol legislation. We’ve had to be really clear about how that [alcohol strategy] impacts us as the events capital, ensuring that we retain a night-time economy, but also that the impacts of some of that behaviour is done in a measured way,’’ Eagle said.
AUT associate professor Geoff Dickson said officials had no option but to take a hard line against excessive drinking.
‘‘It’s very easy for people to stand back and say ‘they were crazy’ for trying to turn it into a family-friendly tournament. The reality is that three important stakeholders – licensing authorities, police and World Rugby – were telling them that they had to do something different.’’