Martin Snedden reflects on what it means to reach the 365 day countdown to RWC 2011 and how the country will be celebrating...
In a few days time, we will be celebrating our "One Year to Go" milestone. Not a bad time for a quick stock-take to see how our preparations are looking.
In this column I want to reflect upon the promise that the New Zealand Rugby Union made in its 2005 bid, that RWC 2011 would be staged within our "Stadium of Four Million". It was a great bid concept and, with only 12 months to go, I am sure that, step by step, our "stadium" is truly coming to life.
There is no doubt that our first major public-facing project decision, taking the pool matches to 13 different venues and the teams to 23 cities and towns throughout New Zealand, sent a powerful, unequivocal message that this event was for all New Zealanders, not just those living in the more populated centres. Giving 16 Rugby clubs and seven schools the opportunity and responsibility for looking after team training needs further reinforced people's belief in our commitment to this philosophy.
On top of those match and team allocation decisions, our encouragement and empowerment of communities throughout New Zealand to create regional festivals for wrapping around the Rugby has given those communities a glorious chance to show off their unique attributes to our thousands of visitors both international and domestic.
The Government's NZ 2011 Office is now pulling together the threads of these regional festivals into a nationwide festival. This initiative is gathering in the support not just of those many Kiwis who love their Rugby but also many others who don't but who do want to contribute to the success of this event. More details of this nationwide festival will emerge as part of our "One Year to Go" celebrations.
Finally, as we move towards kick-off, the theme of "hosting" will figure more and more prominently in RWC 2011 public discussions. Our greatest opportunity next year is not the opportunity for the All Blacks to win the Webb Ellis Cup (although it's fantastic to see how well they are playing at present) but the opportunity we as a nation have to host and care for our 60-85,000 visiting guests. The All Blacks get the chance to win the Cup every four years. New Zealand gets the chance to host this prestigious international event only once in a blue moon.
Our international guests will not care about the fortunes of the All Blacks. They will care about the quality of their visitor experience. Tourism NZ did some research last year on people holidaying in New Zealand. The satisfaction rate was very high. The two things visitors liked best were the beauty of our country and the friendliness of our people. That is the specialness that we must make sure we tap into next year.
Our RWC 2011 visitors know that they are in for a special "Rugby" experience in a country that has lived and breathed the game for more than 100 years. But what would take this event from being very good to something which is truly memorable would be Kiwis uniting to ensure that this event is genuinely delivered by a "stadium of four million hosts". With one year to go, the foundations are now in place and I am certain that we will succeed in doing just that.