People will come to New Zealand primarily to watch the rugby, not get drunk, during the Rugby World Cup next year, Prime Minister John Key says. "I think people come here primarily...to actually watch rugby and to enjoy the very best of New Zealand and that might include some alcohol - a glass of wine or a couple of beers - but it's not limited to that," Mr Key said about concerns of excessive drinking at the event. Most people would want to experience New Zealand's culture, food and scenery, he said. The Lions tour in 2005 was a good example of a well behaved rugby crowd. "They're an audience that's known for wanting to have a good time but they also behaved themselves impeccably." While the numbers would be larger for the Rugby World Cup the festival atmosphere would be the same, Mr Key said. The so-called "party central" to be hosted at Queens Wharf in Auckland would be a multipurpose space, he said. It would host events during the day, bands and fairs as well as having large television screens where people could watch games. "Party central's never been just solely a place where people go and consume alcohol," Mr Key said. "It's a place where there's going to be quite a bit of celebration... that's one aspect of it but that's not its role in totality." The Rugby World Cup will be held in September and October next year.
Key: Rugby World Cup not all about drinking
South African Fans Get The Call Up For Rugby World Cup 2011
South African rugby legend Bob Skinstad is working with Tourism New Zealand to help promote New Zealand to rugby fans in South Africa for Rugby World Cup 2011. The former Springbok turned sports presenter, entrepreneur, blogger and tweeter arrived in New Zealand on Thursday 8 July for this Saturday's Tri Nations test, and Tourism New Zealand has seized the opportunity to give him a taste of what's in store for rugby fans in 2011. Travelling with a crew from South Africa's leading sports broadcaster SuperSport, Skinstad's 12-day visit will be used to raise awareness of Rugby World Cup 2011 in South Africa. On Friday, he bungy jumped off Auckland's Sky Tower before trying his hand at sailing an ex-America's Cup Yacht on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour. Tourism New Zealand Chief Executive Kevin Bowler says South Africans will be an important source market for visitors during the World Cup, with around 10,000 South Africans expected to travel here for the Tournament. Media coverage around Skinstad's visit will kick off a promotional push by Tourism New Zealand running through July and August, in the lead up to the All Blacks/Springboks Tri Nations test at Soccer City in Johannesburg on 21 August, and the launch of individual ticket sales in South Africa in early September. "South Africa is a rugby-mad nation and, as defending World Cup Champions, there will be plenty of interest in the World Cup. Our challenge is to persuade rugby fans that it will be worth the trip to New Zealand to follow their team, and encourage them to book travel," says Kevin Bowler. "We're making the most of this opportunity to showcase the best of New Zealand through the experiences of a rugby legend, and someone who is well respected in South Africa. This project is an ideal way to show South Africans everything New Zealand has to offer them if they come out here for the Tournament in 2011." Footage from Bob Skinstad's visit will be used to create a series of mini-documentaries that will broadcast on SuperSport in the lead up to the Tri Nations test in Johannesburg on 21 August. Footage will also be used online on popular rugby blogs, YouTube and on Tourism New Zealand's website. Follow-up media interviews with Skinstad will also help boost New Zealand's profile when he returns home to South Africa and in the lead up to the 21 August test match. This work builds on results already achieved by Tourism New Zealand through its work with well-known rugby personalities in other key rugby markets; and links well with further activity the organisation has planned to promote New Zealand as the host nation for Rugby World Cup 2011 and boost ticket sales. Download high-resolution images from Bob Skinstad's day sailing with Sail NZ on Auckland's Waitemata Harbour at http://www.tourismnewzealand.com/media/download-images-from-the-campaign .
Rugby World Cup : Key backs Buck for World Cup ambassador
A Big Message for Rugby World Cup 2011 volunteers
RWC 2011 Volunteer programme manager Brendon Ward, of Wellington, said the Queenstown roadshow was one of 35 being held across New Zealand in the coming weeks, aiming to appoint between 5000 and 7000 volunteers for the event.
Mr Ward said it was important anyone registering to volunteer had an understanding of the expectations of them and were realistic about what they would be required to do.
Rugby New Zealand 2011 chief executive Martin Snedden said, by video link, next year's world cup would be one of the biggest sporting events in the world.
"And we are hosting it.
"It's not about a free ticket to a match, it's about being part of delivering an amazing world cup for New Zealand - knowing that when we deliver a Rugby World Cup, it's being delivered by a stadium of 4 million hosts."
Anyone wanting to volunteer elsewhere had to provide their own transport and accommodation.
"It's hard work ...
It might be cold, wet and dark, you might have to assist non-English speakers.
"There are very few roles inside the stadium and there are no free tickets for volunteers at this stage ...
They will be unlikely to see the games and unlikely to meet the rugby stars," he said.
However, there was plenty of "good stuff", which included training, recognition and receiving a uniform which volunteers would be able to keep.
Mr Ward said registrations for volunteers would close in August and interviews for shortlisted applicants would be held in October and November.
Rugby World Cup 2011 Ticket Sellers
There are a lot of ticket agents in the market who sell Rugby World Cup Tickets but not all of them are successful to provide Rugby World Cup Tickets . Among them, only few ticket touts are successful to deliver safe, secure and 100% guaranteed tickets to their customers. The list of those sellers are as under:-
- Ticket Master
- Rugby World Cup Officials
- Gigsport
- Getmein
- See Tickets
Rugby World Cup Tickets are on sale
World Cup 2011 organisers received a massive boost on day one of the global ticketing application phase as thousands of fans, both in New Zealand and around the world, moved quickly to secure team and venue packs for the tournament. Rugby World Cup 2011 event is scheduled to be played over seven weekends from the weekend starting 10 September and culminating the weekend starting 22 October 2011. The weekend of the final was chosen so it falls on a long weekend caused by the New Zealand public holiday of Labour Day (Monday, 24 October 2011). The final is scheduled to be played in Auckland at Eden Park. Tickets for the semi finals and the final are likely to go on sale in August or September 2010. Individual match tickets will go on sale in August or September and ballots for tickets to the semi-finals and final will be held near the end of the year.
The schedule and ticket information are as follows:-
9/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Eden Park Tickets - Auckland, New Zealand
10/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Rotorua Stadium Tickets - Rotorua, New Zealand
10/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 North Harbour Stadium Tickets - North Shore, New Zealand
10/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Rugby Park Stadium Tickets - Invercargill, New Zealand
10/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Stadium Christchurch Tickets - Christchurch, New Zealand
11/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Stadium Christchurch Tickets - Christchurch, New Zealand
11/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Stadium Taranaki Tickets - New Plymouth, New Zealand
11/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Wellington Regional Stadium Tickets - Wellington, New Zealand
14/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Rotorua Stadium Tickets - Rotorua, New Zealand
14/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Northland Events Centre Tickets - Whangarei, New Zealand
14/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Carisbrook Tickets - Dunedin, New Zealand
15/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Stadium Taranaki Tickets - New Plymouth, New Zealand
16/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Waikato Stadium Tickets - Hamilton, New Zealand
17/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Eden Park Tickets - Auckland, New Zealand
17/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Rugby Park Stadium Tickets - Invercargill, New Zealand
17/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Wellington Regional Stadium Tickets - Wellington, New Zealand
18/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Waikato Stadium Tickets - Hamilton, New Zealand
18/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Stadium Christchurch Tickets - Christchurch, New Zealand
18/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 McLean Park Tickets - Napier, New Zealand20/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Trafalgar Park Tickets - Nelson, New Zealand
21/9/2011 - Rugby World Cup 2011 Northland Events Centre Tickets - Whangarei, New Zealand
All Rugby World Cup Tickets and Rwc Tickets are available on www.gigsport.com
Rugby World Cup 2011 tickets problems solved soon
Rugby World Cup call centre staff will give extra time to clear a excess of fans still waiting tickets confirmation after too much calls from the customers.
Shane Harmon, spokesman for the Rugby World Cup 2011, said yesterday that calls to the centre had settled down but the average wait time was still two minutes.
We are going to sent out almost 50k tickets to the applicants and is a big campaign against lots of inquiries. Those who are lucky enough to get tickets to find out this week and because of credit card processing problems call on a hotline number.
Frustrated fans then found the call centre was covered with people desperate to discover if they had tickets and some could not get through.
He received an email on June 16 saying he was partially successful but he should contact the help desk because of credit card issues. He then received another email yesterday saying his application was unsuccessful.
Late yesterday, Mr Baker was told the credit card problems had been sorted out and he would get his tickets.
"I don't have much confidence in them," Mr Baker said.
"Even though they're going to process the credit card, I'm a bit nervous about it."
Mr Harmon said less than 200 of 50,000 fans had been informed they were both partially successful, and had their credit card declined.
Email questions will still be answered during the weekend.
Organisers were happy to extend the July 7 deadline for resolving credit card issues if necessary.
Rugby World Cup 2011 Teams
- Africa
- South Africa (Automatic qualifier)
- Namibia (Africa 1)
- Americas
- Argentina (Automatic qualifier)
- Canada (Americas 1)
- United States (Americas 2)
- Asia
- Japan (Asia 1)
- Europe
- England (Automatic qualifier)
- France (Automatic qualifier)
- Ireland (Automatic qualifier)
- Italy (Automatic qualifier)
- Scotland (Automatic qualifier)
- Wales (Automatic qualifier)
- Georgia (Europe 1)
- Russia (Europe 2)
- Oceania
- New Zealand (Automatic qualifier/Hosts)
- Australia (Automatic qualifier)
- Fiji (Automatic qualifier)
- Tonga (Automatic qualifier)
- Samoa (Oceania 1)
2011 Rugby World Cup Qualifying process
2011 Rugby World Cup qualifying commenced at the 2007 tournament in France where the first 3 teams in each pool earned a place in the finals of the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.
After many gossips, it was confirmed on 30 November 2007 that 20 teams would challenge the next edition of the event. The qualification system for the remaining eight places will be region-based with Europe and the Americas allocated two qualifying places; Africa, Asia and Oceania one place each; and the last place determined by a playoff.
With 86 teams participating (directly or indirectly) in local qualifying competitions and a further 12 teams qualifying spontaneously, 98 nations were participated in the 2011 Rugby World Cup process.
Rugby World Cup 2011 Venues
The 13 venues or places for the 2011 Rugby World Cup were announced on 12 March 2009.
| City | Stadium | Capacity |
|---|---|---|
| Auckland | Eden Park | 63,000* |
| Auckland | North Harbour Stadium | 35,000* |
| Whangarei | Northland Events Centre | 25,000 |
| Hamilton | Waikato Stadium | 40,000* |
| Rotorua | Rotorua International Stadium | 35,000 |
| New Plymouth | Yarrow Stadium | 24,000 |
| Napier | McLean Park | 22,000 |
| Palmerston North | Arena Manawatu | 20,000* |
| Wellington | Westpac Stadium | 40,000* |
| Nelson | Trafalgar Park | 16,000 |
| Christchurch | AMI Stadium | 50,000* |
| Dunedin | Carisbrook or Forsyth Barr Stadium | 30,000* or 35,000-38,000 |
| Invercargill | Rugby Park | 19,000 |
Introduction Rugby World Cup 2011
The event is expected to cost about NZ$310 million to run and will generate NZ$280 million in ticket sales. It will be the biggest sporting occasion ever held in New Zealand, hide the 1987 Rugby World Cup, 1990 Commonwealth Games, 1992 Cricket World Cup, 2003 America's Cup and 2005 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand Around 70,000 viewers from different parts of the world are expected to travel to New Zealand for the associated games and matches.
The event is scheduled to be played over seven weekends from the weekend starting 10 September and finished the weekend starting 22 October 2011. The weekend of the final was chosen so it falls on a long weekend caused by the New Zealand public holiday of Labour Day (Monday, 24 October 2011). The final is scheduled to be played in Auckland at Eden Park.
As of 19 February 2008, New Zealand's progress in making plans for the event received an A+ rating from the International Rugby Board's chairman and chief executive.
After months of gossips that the number of participating teams would be reduced to 16, the IRB announced on Friday, 30 November 2007 that the 2011 tournament would again feature 20 teams. Twelve teams qualified as a result of finishing in the top three in each pool in the 2007 tournament. The remaining eight berths will be determined by regional qualifying tournaments.
Rugby World Cup 2007
Except for three pool matches in Scotland, Ireland and Wales, and a quarter final also in Wales, all 2007 Rugby World Cup matches were played in France in Paris, St Denis, Marseille, Lens, St Etienne, Bordeaux, Lyon, Montpellier, Nantes, Toulouse
Overall RWC Team Performance Records
The following table shows the generally performance records of the teams from the Six Nations and Tri-Nations competitions, plus the teams that made the knock-out stages (the quarter-finals) in at least one of the World Cups played so far. If they played in the tournament, the entries in the table show the stage at which they were knocked out, or whether they won the tournament.
| Team | 1987 | 1991 | 1995 | 1999 | 2003 | 2007 | Qtr-finals | Semi-finals | Finals | Champions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | SF | W | QF | W | F | QF | 6 | 4 | 3 | 2 |
| South Africa(1) | DNP | DNP | W | SF | QF | W | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| England | QF | F | SF | QF | W | F | 6 | 4 | 3 | 1 |
| New Zealand | W | SF | F | SF | SF | QF | 6 | 5 | 2 | 1 |
| France | F | QF | SF | F | SF | SF | 6 | 5 | 2 | 0 |
| Scotland | QF | SF | QF | QF | QF | QF | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Ireland | QF | QF | QF | Group | QF | Group | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wales | SF | Group | Group | QF | QF | Group | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Argentina | Group | Group | Group | QF | Group | SF | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Samoa(2) | DNP | QF | QF | Group | Group | Group | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Fiji(3) | QF | Group | DNQ | Group | Group | QF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Canada | Group | QF | Group | Group | Group | Group | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Italy | Group | Group | Group | Group | Group | Group | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
History of Rugby World Cup
The first Rugby World Cup, at first suggested by the Australian Rugby Union and the New Zealand Football Union in part submissions to the International Rugby Board, was began in 1987.
The opening Rugby World Cup was began in Australia and New Zealand in May and June, 1987, with teams from 16 countries competing. New Zealand won the opening Rugby World Cup.
Attendance at the 1987 games was 600,000. By the 1999 Rugby World Cup attendance had reached 1.75 million.
Before the 2007 World Rugby Cup, Australia was the only nation to have won the Cup two time. New Zealand has won one Rugby World Cup. In the first three Rugby World Cup matches, 16 teams contested the final rounds after qualifying matches involving all the other International Rugby Board member unions over a two-year period.
The 1999, the fourth Rugby World Cup had an expanded entry of 20 teams, qualifying through 133 matches worldwide from an original entry of 65 unions.
This history of winning and runners up RWC via chart are as follows:-
| Year | Host | Final venue | Teams | Qualifying participants | Matches played | Winner | Runner-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Australia New Zealand | Eden Park | 16 | Invitation | 32 | New Zealand | France |
| 1991 | Britain France Ireland | Twickenham | 16 | 32 | 32 | Australia | England |
| 1995 | South Africa | Ellis Park | 16 | 52 | 32 | South Africa | New Zealand |
| 1999 | Wales | Millennium Stadium | 20 | 65 | 41 | Australia | France |
| 2003 | Australia | Telstra Stadium | 20 | 80 | 48 | England | Australia |
| 2007 | France | Stade de France | 20 | 91 | 48 | South Africa | England |
| 2011 | New Zealand | Eden Park | 20 | - | - | - | - |
Introduction to Rugby World Cup
The Rugby World Cup is the leading international rugby union competition. The event is managed by the sport's governing body, the International Rugby Board (IRB), and is competition by the men's national teams. The first contest was held in 1987, hosted by both Australia and New Zealand, and is now contested every four years. The contest is one of the biggest international sporting competitions in the world.
The victors are honoured the William Webb Ellis Cup. William Webb Ellis was the Rugby School pupil who – according to popular myth – invented the game after picking up the ball during a game of football. South Africa are the present World Champions, having won the 2007 Rugby World Cup final in France on 20 October 2007 with winning over England, the 2003 World Champions and present runners-up. New Zealand is hosting the next Rugby world cup. The hosts for 2015 and 2019 have been announced as England and Japan respectively