Hamilton will replace Wellington as the location of the annual New Zealand Sevens tournament from 2018 onwards.
The news doesn’t come as much of a surprise, having been forecast from some time. Wellington has hosted the tournament since 2000, but had seen declining crowds in recent years.
Hamilton mayor Andrew King was understandably excited.
“The financial reward for the city is huge,” said King.
“Hamilton City Council is making the stadium available for a weekend where it would have been empty. There is no risk or cost for the rate payers.”
Having seen less and less people come to the event in recent years, Wellington mayor Justin Lester admitted that a change had to be made.
“The Sevens has been a big part of recent Wellington history, but it was time for the event to move on. The feedback we’d been getting from the public was that the event in Wellington seemed to have lost its allure,” Lester said.
“Wellingtonians have been voting with their feet in the last few years and we’ve seen the result in dwindling crowd numbers and lower ticket sales. It might be that the best thing is for the event to get a fresh start somewhere else and re-invent itself.
“For us, Wellington’s events calendar needs to be constantly evolving to keep people’s interest and this decision gives us an opportunity to refresh our events and look at new opportunities.
“We’ll now be focused on developing new events that highlight the things we most love about our city – from our growing tech sector, our sports, our strong arts and culture scene and our world class food and drink offerings.”
Nigel Cass, New Zealand Rugby’s Chief Strategy and Operations Officer, was enthusiastic about the change.
“Hamilton and the Waikato region are rugby mad and we’re looking forward to introducing international sevens to the local community and for visiting fans from around New Zealand to experience the heart of rugby in New Zealand,” said Cass.
“We are confident our partners in Hamilton will deliver an exceptional tournament that fans will love on the weekend of 3 and 4 February.”
Cass said it wasn’t an easy decision to move the tournament way from Wellington, and paid tribute to those who had made it a success there in the past.
“We delivered 18 years of good times and great tournaments in the capital, thanks to the exceptional teams we worked with at Wellington City Council, WREDA, Westpac Stadium, Police, hospitality industry and our fantastic volunteers. I have nothing but praise for all those who contributed to the Wellington Sevens for almost two decades.”
Kelefua
Guest
Alot of Aucklanders travelled to Wellington for the 7s so I wonder if decline in numbers had something to do with NRL 9s starting up in Auckland as the budget for most would probably allow one big sporting weekend not to mention savings on travel/accom. Also some can only get the missus to sign consent form for 1 big weekend away with the boys once a year;)
In brief
Guest
I have to confess I'm a bit bored with 7s too. Not a big fan of the tired old tunes or the dress ups, and the rugby gets monotonous with a few exceptions (Fiji/USA for example).
Blue Horned Mike
Roar Rookie
You're missing Cape Town.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yes I've been several times, corporate and otherwise. For me the matches themselves have a certain eye candy value but can get a bit monotonous match after match so the atmosphere becomes key. For Wellington it's had its run, everyone's been, several times, even the novelty of dressing up year after year becomes a bit worn. The drinking culture did get a bit carried away and all those combinations meant it just got shelved as a must do for the year by many. The event thrives on word of mouth...'you going to the Sevens!' Was heard commonly heard everywhere, and a large segment of mainly young adults bought into it. You don't hear those coversations much any more. 'Oh that again...' is more common. Hamilton will support it and initially a few Aucklanders will see it as a Nines alternative but the Wellington experience will test Hamilton severely in terms of its longeitivity, I doubt very much it will be there in ten years still as it is now.
Bamboo
Guest
Its hard to explain, but none of what made Wellington special was forced (the dressing up for example). Where it got to, and it will never be replicated, all occurred organically. What also helped, and its usually my main complaint of the Caketin was the fact that its an oval stadium. The concourse around the outside was is just a big huge circle, and can hold a lot of people, so it was not as though you were isolated to your seat for the day. Given the ability to move around, it did have more of a festival atmosphere as opposed to a sports game. Put it this way - if someone offered me corporate suite tickets I would have turned them down.
Daveski
Guest
I've heard this explanation a few times. We like to think of Australia and Sydney especially as the leader of nanny-state like rules, and regulations. Lets home Hong Kong never goes down that track ! Sydney has done well in it's first two years despite expensive beer options and a 2 drink limit in all bar the members area. But they've had the Olympics hype in Year 1 and great weather both years ( probably too hot ). The dress up angle has been heavily pushed ( and quite embraced ) but Sydney can be very fickle. Hopefully it holds up over the next few years.
Bamboo
Guest
Wellington was a perfect event ruined. A market was found and it was a sellout year after year, but in this day and age of democracy it only takes one complaint to put the wheels in motion. The event was a bonafide booze up, with some rugby to watch if you got bored. The average punter was 18-35 years old, and pretty much all of the 35,000 attendees were dressed up. The city bought into it, with these attendees allowed into pubs in the city in their costumes. The outcome made a lot of people happy - it was a good sporting event, hotels were sold out and for most pubs it was their busiest weekend of the year, and it just made Wellington look cool. All it took was one mother to complain about the lack of family environment and the drunkeness to start this whole process to where it is now. I hope she is happy....
Sydneysider
Guest
Looks like Wellingtonians are bored with the 7's concept. Same thing happened when the 7's were on the Gold Coast, and then moved to Sydney a couple of years ago. Interesting to see if the same thing happens in Sydney.......
puff
Guest
Hamilton is central with a degree of passion for all forms of the sport. Although I thought they only signed for two years with further options. The stadium there is not that large if I recall.
Daveski
Guest
London Paris Hong Kong Singapore Dubai Sydney Vancouver Vegas Hamilton. Something seems amiss. Happy to be proved wrong and see a full house and great atmosphere. Those empty yellow seats in Wellington have been an eyesore last few years
Bakkies
Guest
IRB has venue contracts and aims to build up an event. Moving it around every year won't meet those goals.
Tim
Guest
Good move. Should have done it 5 years ago. Hamilton should be a one off then they should parade it around to a new city every year.