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 Friday, 29 August 2008 |
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Wellington Kits Up for Rugby |
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Written by Wellington
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Sunday, 27 August 2006 |
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Wellington Gears up to Host World's Biggest Rugby Festival
The Russians are coming. So are Sicily and Spain.
These are just a few of the countries that will be represented in
Wellington later this year when the city hosts the world's biggest
rugby festival.
From 29 October to 5 November more than 4,000 rugby-mad people will
descend on Wellington, the home of New Zealand rugby, for the 16th Air
New Zealand Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival.
More than 160 teams from 15 countries will fill the city in a festival
that celebrates fun, friendship and fraternity. Teams will also come
from countries less known for their rugby such as the USA, Japan and
American Samoa and more traditional rugby-playing nations; France,
Ireland, England, Italy, South Africa, Cook Islands, Samoa and
Australia, plus the Australian external territory of Norfolk Island and
of course, New Zealand.
Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast says the city is very much looking forward to hosting the Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival.
"Our visitors are in for a fantastic time as rugby clubs throughout the
city gear up to host them in New Zealand's rugby capital.
Wellingtonians are known for their hospitality and will ensure our
visitors have a fantastic time, both on and off the field. It's
going to be a great week."
Golden Oldies Rugby is played by rugby players 35 years and older. Its
overall aim is the celebration of friendship and an enjoyment of rugby,
where the partying off the field is as much a part of the experience as
the games themselves.
The Festival will have a rugby icon in the form of former All Black
captain and current New Zealand Rugby Union vice president Andy Leslie,
who is the official Festival Ambassador.
"It's an honour to be involved in this year's Golden Oldies World Rugby
Festival," says Andy Leslie. "It promises to be a week to remember, and
I'm thrilled that it will take place in Wellington. What better place
to give these overseas teams a taste of the New Zealand rugby
experience but here, in one of the greatest little cities in the world."
The Festival will kick off with the official opening on the steps of
Parliament on Sunday 29 October, followed by a street parade with all
participating teams that will end with a welcome party at Te Papa. The
games will be played on the Monday, Wednesday and Friday of the week,
75 games in total each day, at three rugby fields around the Wellington
region: Ian Galloway Park, Kilbirnie and Evans Bay Parks (which are
adjacent) and Petone Recreation Ground.
"This is a huge event for Wellington," says Positively Wellington
Tourism CEO Tim Cossar. "What a great opportunity to showcase
Wellington to the world, and build upon our reputation as home of New
Zealand rugby. Planning is well underway and the city is gearing up to
welcome the players. Virtually every hotel bed in the region will be
full, buses will be brought in from throughout the lower North Island,
and Wellington will be bustling."
The biennial festival returns to New Zealand for the first time in 11
years, last staged in Christchurch in 1995. It also brings the
worldwide Golden Oldies movement full circle.
It began in the late 1970s when former All Black and New Zealand Rugby
Union Councilor Tom Johnson, who lived in the Wellington region at the
time, visited North America and found that people remained involved in
rugby in Canada and USA through masters' and veteran's movements. The
first Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival took place in Auckland in
1979.
The Golden Oldies Rugby Festivals have been held in Long Beach, Sydney,
London, Auckland, Toronto, Perth, Dublin, Christchurch, Vancouver, Cape
Town, Adelaide, Toulouse, Brisbane and San Diego.
About Air New Zealand Golden Oldies:
This Kiwi invention has the central theme of ?Fun, Friendship and
Fraternity' for those people of 35 years young and over. From regular
mini-festivals, Golden Oldies is highlighted by biennial World
Festivals, where fellow sportspeople of all ages from all corners of
the globe join together to celebrate. The youngest will be 35 and the
oldest likely to be in their 90s.
Golden Oldies offers the opportunity for people to keep a level of
fitness and at the same time retain and grow friendships. And it also
offers the vehicle for people to remain in rugby - and for those
schools, clubs and rugby organisations to take advantage of that
experience.
The Golden Oldies movement has grown to also incorporate cricket,
netball, hockey and soccer. From the outset Golden Oldies has been
supported by Air New Zealand, and the company plays a lead hand in the
organisation of the Festivals, along with the Golden Oldies World
Secretariat.
For more details on the 2006 Air New Zealand World Golden Oldies World Rugby Festival, visit www.goldenoldiessports.com.
Or visit: www.Wellington.govt.nz/rd/goldenoldies.
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 27 August 2006 )
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