The Wellingtonian editorial: Poor treatment for sevens fans

THE WELLINGTONIAN

OPINION: Wellingtonians, who are brilliant supporters of special events in their city, are getting the rough end of the stick again, this time at the International Sevens tournament this weekend.

We all recall the big New Zealand v Bahrain World Cup soccer qualifier last November, when everyone was so proud of the way Wellingtonians filled the stadium and made the evening such a massive success.

While that was happening, sneaky Wellington City Council wardens raised their weekly parking ticket quotas by placing notices on the cars of football fans.

The cars were in normal parking spaces in Thorndon, but were deemed to be parked illegally during the soccer.

This was rightly portrayed as nothing more than council money-grabbing.

Wellingtonians are great at supporting events and by doing so bringing even more kudos to their city. But in the case of the soccer game, the punters were treated with contempt.

It's going to happen again at the sevens.

Wellington City Council, Positively Wellington Tourism and other such groups love being able to point to the success of the sevens, and to boast about what a vibrant, exciting city Wellington is.

But the sevens is only a success because of the fans.

Take away two days of packed stands and you'd have just another rather tedious sports event.

Again, though, the punters are being shafted.

The second day of the sevens – Saturday – falls on Waitangi Day, so stadium food and drink vendors are bulking up their prices with public holiday surcharges.

This is nothing more than greed. The higher prices do far more than just cover extra wages – they seek to increase profit using the excuse of a public holiday.

We are not talking about a suburban cafe opening on a public holiday, getting a smattering of customers and having to pay staff higher wages.The vendors supplying food at the sevens are making an absolute killing.

There are rules prohibiting spectators from bringing too much of their own food and drinks to the sevens.

So the 35,000 people there each day have no choice but to use the stadium vendors, even though the queues are often absurdly long, the food is of questionable quality and the service erratic.

On the Saturday, a 187ml cup of wine will cost $8.60, up from $7.50 the day before. Beer, by the 440ml cup, rises from $6 to $6.90 and soft drinks from $4 to $4.60.

Chips rise from $3.80 to $4.40 and burgers from $5.50 to $6.30. It's pathetic.

Spectators will already be paying up to $170 for a ticket. Stadium parking is $30 a day. Many will have spent $50 or more on their costume.

To pile on more expense is just mean, and is letting down the good people of Wellington who go out of their way to support the event.

The sevens event general manager, Steve Walters, said this week the event still offered "excellent value" and that the surcharges would not be "a dealbreaker" when it came to people's enjoyment.

Those are the words of a bloke who will have free access to the event, won't pay a cent for food or drink for two days, and will bathe in the glory for months afterwards, after Wellingtonians have supported the event and made it another spectacular success.