Blues boss bags ‘draconian’ rules
Andrew Hore wants to open up Eden Park when his team returns from the Queenstown bubble, writes Marc Hinton.
Blues rugby boss Andrew Hore has not held back while delivering an emphatic plea to be able to open his vast stadium back up to fans when his team returns in March from its Super Rugby bubble in Queenstown.
Hore yesterday took a potshot at ‘‘draconian’’ close contact rules in place around Covid-19 and said it was ‘‘time to move on’’ and reward people who had got vaccinated by allowing them to go to major events. He added that the country appeared to be ‘‘caught up in political turmoil that needed to be sorted’’.
The Blues chief executive is dealing with his third year under the cloud of the pandemic, and the strain is beginning to show. He described the scenario for the first year of Super Rugby Pacific, which will see the six New Zealand-based teams head into a month-long bubble in Queenstown to open the season behind closed doors, as the toughest he has had to endure. He added that the season was already ‘‘broken’’ financially, and from now it would be all about ‘‘mitigating the losses’’.
Hore said the Blues, like their fellow Kiwi franchises, had been required to move quickly when NZ Rugby confirmed on Wednesday it was shifting them into a Queenstown bubble for the last week of the pre-season and first three rounds of the competition proper, with games shared between Queenstown and Dunedin.
At this stage the Blues are due to return home for their round 4 clash against the Highlanders on Friday, March 11. That game is scheduled to take place in Whangarei but the Blues chief confirmed that could be changed, depending on rules in place around the pandemic.
Whatever played out, Hore made it clear it was vital that he be allowed to open the doors to Eden Park, allow fans to fill the vast stadium, and help turn around a financial plight that was getting more severe by the week. He described the commercial impact of the Queenstown bubble as ‘‘significant’’.
‘‘Mentally now the organisation is looking forward to when they come back, and starting to plan around expecting crowds … People have made their choices around vaccinations, and those that have done their double vax should be rewarded with being able to go to these things. I don’t think we should be held to ransom by those who haven’t,’’ he said.
The Blues boss said he expected to be allowed to open up his stadiums when his team returned, and reward fans and members who had shown their loyalty through the tough times.
‘‘It’s time now to move on. We believe people have the right to make a choice and people have made the choice to get vaccinated – hence they should have the choice to be able to go to events.
‘‘The rest of the world seems to be getting on with it, and we seem to be caught in a sort of political turmoil that needs to be sorted. I think people are getting to a point where there’s an expectation that life has to get moving again and this is getting a little bit silly.
‘‘We believe we’ve got to start rewarding those that have behaved in the appropriate manner.’’
In terms of mitigating those financial challenges faced, Hore conceded the uncertain nature of the landscape made it difficult to plan ahead.
‘‘The challenging part is you have a number of scenarios: when we come back are there going to be crowds, other restrictions and more travel changes as regards Australia? We’ve got about seven scenarios we’ve whittled down to three, and we’re working through that.
‘‘You’re in a bit of a no-man’s land ... And then we’ve got these draconian close contact rules that make it, for most businesses in this country, looking through an economic lens, almost unworkable and seemingly very disorganised. There is going to be impact and it will be significant. But we believe it’s something we can get through ‘‘
In terms of the move into the Queenstown bubble, Hore said the chief challenge had been around the speed at which things happened. But there had been no pushback from players, including All Blacks who had spent much of 2021 in various bubbles.
The Blues boss was hopeful the trans-Tasman component of the season would play out come lateApril, but admitted that remained in the lap of the Covid gods.
The historic women’s Super Rugby Aupiki remained a work in progress. Hore said teams were due to come into camp next week, though there remained a watching brief around when the competition would begin, with some flexibility in place.
‘‘We seem to be caught in a sort of political turmoil that needs to be sorted.’’ Andrew Hore Blues chief executive