18 June 2017
Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Lions game - post match
Inquiry
Am continuing with the Lions coverage and have several questions for the Rotorua Lakes Council.
- Can I confirm it was Rotorua Boys High School, Rotorua Girls High School, Rotorua Intermediate and St Michael's Catholic School who took part in the giant haka yesterday? Were there any other local schools involved? I thought I heard a Ngongotaha school spoken about?
- Would I be able to get comment from the Mayor or acting Mayor about how they thought the weekend has gone - did Rotorua show its visitors a good time? How has the RLC coped with such a large influx of people?
- I was hoping to talk to the manager of iSite about how the Lions visitors have been, what local attractions they have been visiting etc - who is the best person to talk with?
- I will call Martin Croft later today to talk about how he thought all the events from the Matariki All Starts Parade to Big Brekkie have gone.
Response
Rotorua Daily Post spoke to Major Events Manager Martin Croft regarding the weekend's events and they were also referred to a Mayor statement posted on Council's Facebook page.
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Media: Rotorua Daily Post
Topic: Lions game - bus transport
Inquiry
- How did the operations team feel the night went? Did the stadium perform as it should?
- As per her public Facebook page singer Lizzie Marvelly, who sung the national anthem at the game, was apologizing afterwards for her in-ear monitors failing as she sung. Why did this happen on such an important game night?
- We've heard from people who went to the game of poor traffic management following the match (ie buses) and difficulty leaving the stadium ie massive lines not moving - what does he or the team have to say about that?
Response
You'll need to talk to Elizabeth Marvelly re sound issues as council staff weren't involved in the sound system.
Attribute to a Council spokesperson:
For such a large scale event there were very few issues. We've had excellent feedback from the New Zealand Rugby Union.
All gates were empty five minutes before kick-off, so all 28,177 attendees made it in time to see the start of the match.
There was a lot of traffic with 18 free public buses taking people into the city from the game plus charter buses and traffic delays are to be expected when you have such a big event. All parking areas were empty an hour after the game had finished.
