Canes call in cops
Four Super Rugby franchises cut ties with cash-strapped ticket company
The Hurricanes Super Rugby franchise has called in police as it battles to recover $200,000 from its former ticketing company, amid concerns that ticket holders for cancelled events have not received refunds.
Ticket Rocket has provided ticketing services for a number of sporting organisations and venues since the late 1990s while its sole director, Canadian-born Matthew Davey, was until recently a director and major shareholder in the Highlanders Super Rugby Franchise.
At the start of the year four of New Zealand’s Super Rugby franchises used the company’s ticketing services but all have now severed ties with the Dunedinbased company, which was originally known as Ticket Direct.
The Highlanders are also trying to ensure that fans who bought tickets to cancelled matches during the Covid-19 lockdown receive refunds.
The Hurricanes have now confirmed the organisation was so concerned about its dispute with Ticket Rocket over its failure to pay for tickets to games dating back to February that it called the police.
“Whilst the Hurricanes have sought to commence the agreed dispute resolution process with Ticket Rocket, Ticket Rocket has not en
gaged,” Hurricanes chairman Iain Potter claimed in a statement to the
Herald.
“As well as money owed to us, we were concerned that there were refunds owing to people holding tickets to games that were cancelled during lockdown.
“After our request for evidence that money was held in trust was ignored, we laid a police complaint some weeks ago.”
Potter claimed that the ticketing company was supposed to hold the proceeds from tickets to its home games in a trust account “but we have increasingly become concerned that Ticket Rocket has not done so”.
The franchise urged supporters who were owed refunds to games which had been cancelled to contact the Hurricanes, saying it believed most had got their money back.
Attempts to contact Ticket Rocket or Davey, both based in Dunedin, were unsuccessful yesterday.
The Chiefs, Crusaders and Highlanders were also using Ticket Rocket for Super Rugby games at the start of the year.
A spokeswoman for the Crusaders confirmed that the franchise ended its relationship with Ticket Rocket this year but declined to comment on why it had done so.
The Highlanders franchise did not comment on its current relationship with Ticket Rocket but appeared to distance itself from its former director.
“Matt Davey resigned from our board in April and no longer has any involvement with the day-to-day governance of the Highlanders,” Doug Harvie, chairman of the Dunedinbased franchise said in a statement.
Hamilton’s deputy mayor is calling for the Huntly kauma¯tua who threatened to vandalise the Captain Hamilton statue to be prosecuted. Geoff Taylor’s call comes as the council prepares to publicly discuss the future of Captain Hamilton’s statue at tomorrow’s Community Committee. It will be the first discussion since an executive decision was made earlier this month to pull it out after Taitimu Maipi threatened to pull it out himself during a Black Lives Matter protest march.
Taylor said while he supported the bronze sculpture being temporarily removed, he did not support the way Maipi or Tainui went about it.
“I think Taitimu Maipi, who made the threats against the statue, should be prosecuted, given that this was his second offence, having damaged the statue in 2018.”
Maipi had previously attacked the Captain Hamilton statue in Civic Square with a sledgehammer, and coated it with red paint, in protest at the city being named after the British captain, who killed Ma¯ori in the Waikato land wars.
Taylor was also disappointed Tainui had released a statement supporting Maipi’s “tireless advocacy in disrupting the status quo and advancing his position on a range of matters similar to this”, saying that it, in effect, promoted vandalism.
“I think Tainui has been a little calculated in choosing this time of hysteria following an outrageous crime in the US to push the case for renaming the city and some street names. I don’t think that was a great act of partnership at all. For me it hasn’t helped the cause,” Taylor posted on Facebook.
Waikato-Tainui has for the past year been working with council to identify street names and other landmarks people find offensive.
A Waikato-Tainui spokesperson said Taylor’s interpretation in regard to them supporting Maipi’s vandalism did not align with their statement.
“We are aware of the Facebook page and it was always going to cause a discussion among the local community and they are more than happy to have a view on it.”
Maipi told Stuff that he did not regret threatening to vandalise a statue representing a “murderer”, saying he would have used a hammer or tow truck.
“I don’t think a person like that should have been honoured for the murder of our ancestors.”
A spokesperson said police were not investigating threats against the statue.
Hamilton Mayor Paula Southgate earlier told the Herald the quick executive decision to remove the statue was a temporary measure made because of the threats it would be attacked.
She said there would be urgent discussions with councillors and the wider public about what they would like to see happen to it long-term.
This could include requests around changing the name of the city and some streets.
Council minutes from 2012 show Tainui and other iwi were consulted on the statue before it was erected.