Communities Count During Cup

COMMUNITIES COUNT: Having seen every Tournament, Poneke Rugby Club Chairman Duncan Garvie knows how the community atmosphere will add to the RWC 2011 experience for Wellington's visitors.

Things have changed in 24 years of the Webb Ellis Cup. Having attending every Tournament, Poneke Rugby Club chairman Duncan Garvie has seen it all.

In 1987, Rugby in New Zealand was still amateur, and the organising of the first-ever international Tournament for the Webb Ellis Cup was a stretch of faith, and one to remember, Garvie says.

“New Zealand and Australia organised it against the odds.”

New Zealand won the Trophy and the All Blacks have been chasing that top spot ever since. But according to Garvie, in the five Tournaments since 1987 the best parts have always been about the community surrounding the games.

A leading light in the Wellington Rugby community, Garvie says the Poneke Rugby clubrooms will be a central point for rugby fans during Rugby World Cup 2011. The club is staging an adjacent tournament for players over 35 and another for youngsters that will add to the festival atmosphere in the capital city.

Wellington will be brimming with Rugby passion, and the Rugby souls amongst them will find a warm welcome and like-minded fans at Poneke on the edge of the Kilbirnie Rugby pitch.

“We’ll hopefully be hosting campervans; we are close to the city and we’re easy to find.”

As a director at corporate travel specialists Williment Travel, Garvie is used to steering coach loads of Rugby fans around foreign countries, from Rugby clubs to restaurants to local sights and back to the grandstands.

Rugby World Cup 2008, France was the pinnacle of hospitality, he says.

“The community got in behind it and supported all the teams.”

The French took the visiting teams to heart and it was not uncommon to see a stadium of French Rugby fans wearing New Zealand or Portuguese colours, says Garvie, who lists drinking aperitifs with the mayor of a small French town and filling the local restaurants with busloads of die-hard New Zealand Rugby fans as tour highlights.

“Rugby World Cup fever was everywhere. And we’ll do it here; the same atmosphere will be created.”

As it does with events like the annual IRB Sevens, the Wellington community will create a welcome mat worthy of rugby fans the world over, Garvie says.

“Wellington is set up for that. It’s an easy city to host big events. We’re going to have a lot of visitors.”