Originally Posted by
Hail Sezer
Well guys having been back for a few days now and nearly caught up on my sleep, here are my overall thoughts on the weekend.
Firstly, the weather turned out. It was hot which had everyone in good spirits and despite most of us getting burnt on the first day due to being lazy and not applying enough sunblock, it kept the beers coming and the crowd upbeat. The atmosphere was incredible with ~40k people there each day.
The alcohol policies there were odd. I received numerous emails during the week telling me that people attending the event must not turn up intoxicated or we will be denied entry. That wasn't an issue, but they limited the alcohol purchases to 1 beer per person at about the halfway point on saturday. The majority of people were in huge groups, so this just created longer lines. Effectively everyone was punished for an incredibly small minority's poor behaviour on the drink which was understandable, however I think there probably was better ways to go about it. These regulations stemmed from the alcohol fuelled arrests etc at 7s the weekend prior.
The entertainment outside of the footy was shocking haha..cheap kiwi bands who were just awkward.
The amount of warriors supporters was good and bad. Firstly, whenever the warriors came out of the tunnel to do their pre-game lap around the field, the crowd went absolutely crazy. It was unreal but it took away from the game that was actually on the field because the warriors supporters would be standing up and chahooing so we couldn't see the game currently being played. No disrespect to them, and I would've done the same for the Titans, it was just an intimidating atmosphere for every other team. These same supporters would boo every other team playing the warriors...just because they were playing the warriors.
A lot of warriors fans left once the warriors got knocked out. I'll post photos of the stadium before and after the warriors got knocked out and it's really obvious the amount of fans which immediately left. This is why I can see value in the event being held in Australia; more variety of supporters, more interest in games outside of warriors.
The dress up; normal clothing ratio was about 50:50. Personally I dressed up one day and wore Titans kit the next, but the people in the costumes really created an awesome vibe, similar to that of 7s.
Speaking of 7s, the main difference between the 9s and the 7s in wellington is the attention to the footy. Wellington 7s is a huge party and then a grand final. That's where people's attention is. 9's is a festival of rugby league, people were mainly there to watch rugby league, chill out and have a few beers.
The timing oft the event was excellent as well with the Eminem concert also being on in Auckland. Town afterwards was packed, always good.
Regarding our team...yeah we didn't look flash. Disinterested and lacking direction. This was an event for young enthusiastic players. Christian Hazard, Jamal Fogarty or even Jahrome Hughes should have been given a run.
It's worth noting also that David Smith the NRL CEO was just walking around the tunnels in the stadium, completely open to fan interaction. Credit to him, this was really cool.
Overall, amazing weekend, event was incredible from both a footy and fun perspective, highly highly highly recommend coming over for next year's if it stays in Auckland. Despite a few hiccups on the way up (shutup teke) and absolutely destroying my bank account, it was an awesome weekend and I was incredibly satisfied.
Probably missed a fair bit here, will add as I remember