Wellington Sevens Set to Become Booze Free!

After an event marred by an increased number of arrests by the police for disorderly, drunken behaviour, and negative feedback from spectators, organizers of the New Zealand Sevens event in Wellington are set to clamp down drastically on the boozey behaviour of fans.

20 people were arrested while 270 people were ejected at this year's Sevens and police say those numbers are too high despite organizers saying that this was the best behaved crowd at the event to date.

Organizers will respond, possibly even the unlikely option of banning the sale of alcohol at the stadium although they have made a preference for a special license where police set the conditions. The trouble in recent years is the fact that fans have been taking advantage of cheap liquor sales at supermarkets and pre-loaded before the event - not surprising given the exorbitant prices and low quality of alcohol sold at the stadium.

Another idea is to keep the event exclusively in the daytime to make it not only more friendly to families and also mean ensuring that the crowd moves to the city and away from the stadium for their night out.

Whatever happens, something needs to be done to avoid the slippery slope the event finds itself on, towards being a big booze party - especially with the rise of the Auckland Nines tournament a week after the Sevens - the inaugural event showed that you could organize a sports festival and yet keep it relatively well behaved.

Greatest New Zealand Sevens Side Ever? #NZSevens

It's raining throughout much of New Zealand today meaning we're stuck sat on our couches watching the thin box in front of us while our Saturday cricket is washed out.

Thankfully there's quite a bit of sport on with the 2nd day of the New Zealand Sevens and the 3rd day of a riveting test match between the Blackcaps and India at Eden Park.

While you watch, you might want to give your brain a bit of a workout.

So name your greatest ever New Zealand Sevens side now - 7 plus 5 on the bench.

1.DJ Forbes
2.Dallas Seymour
3.Liam Messam
4.Amasio Valence
5.Eric Rush
6.Jonah Lomu
7.Christian Cullen

SUBS -
8.Tamati Ellison
9.Tafai Ioasa
10.Tomasi Cama
11.Karl Te Nana
12.Lote Raikabula

Sevens Weekend! #NZSevens

It's that time of the year - well slightly a week late this year due to the reshuffling of the IRB World Series Sevens calendar.

Yes, it's that time of the year when Wellingtonians - and other Kiwis - dress up as bumblebees and Borat for two days and get sloshed while 14 guys try and beat each other in a game of rugby that only lasts for 7 minutes each way.

While organizers of the NZ Sevens are trying to emphasize the Sevens in the event and move away from the hugely popular booze brigade it has now become, the event still has a very festive air to it with the result taking less precedence over just being there.

Even better if New Zealand win the tournament - something they will need to do with close rivals, South Africa, now leading the series ladder after the last round in Las Vegas.

What are you wearing this year?

Anyway, here are highlights from last year!

Greatest New Zealand Sevens Team Ever?

New Zealand has produced some awesome Sevens players but who makes the greatest team ever?


Mine?
Eric Rush (captain)

Christian Cullen

Mils Muliaina
Jonah Lomu 
Dallas Seymour

DJ Forbes
Karl Te Nana

Coach: Titch. Who else?

Top 5 Wellington Sevens moments

Since its inception in 2000, the New Zealand Sevens event in Wellington has become the city's - and some might say the country's - biggest annual sporting event. Yes, it's a party for the 40,000 people at the ground but it's still all about the action on the field.

Here are 5 memorable moments from Wellington Sevens past - and even present.

5.Wales beating New Zealand, 2009
It was New Zealand's first loss in the pool stages of its home Sevens event and quite a stunning result too. Wales' first win against a New Zealand side in over 50 years was aided by the fact that New Zealand had a man sent to the bin at a critical time. It turns out Wales were a side on the rise in the Sevens game - they would win the World Cup later that season. New Zealand recovered to make the Final where they lost in the dying stages to England.

4.The Colonel
Ah yes, what would the Sevens be without our favourite Colonel? The Colonel even has his own float in the parade on Thursday! 






3.The Mankini 

Probably the most memorable - and most inappropriate costume ever at the Wellington Sevens. For those of you who don't know, it was inspired by the Borat film. It has subsequently and rightly outlawed from the Sevens. 

2.New Zealand's First Win
Hard to believe that New Zealand did not actually win their home tournament until 2003 when they beat England in the Final. They came close in the inagural tournament in 2000 but didn't make the Final again 3 years later. The team that played in 2003 actually had some decent players, players who would go on to make the All Blacks and of course the great Eric Rush. As it stands, New Zealand now has 5 wins at home - like they say, you wait for a bus for so long, then 5 of them show up...








1.The Power Failure
The 2007 final saw a clash between two rivals from the Pacific as well as a clash between the stadium and the power company. Power was lost momentarily towards the end of quite an exciting game where Samoa upset eventual series winners, Fiji. Most probably didn't quite see the thrilling action at the end as the lights failed.

Top 5 Sports/Party Events in the World

It's Sevens weekend in Wellington, starting what is set to be a massive weekend of sport from Friday to Monday - sevens, cricket, Six Nations, Premier League and of course, the Super Bowl.

The New Zealand Sevens is probably the one sporting event where the focus is more on the spectators - or rather what they're wearing - and less about the action on the field. Of course, that doesn't mean the spectators don't care for a New Zealand win.

But are there other events in the world where it's all about just being a part of the event and not merely the game? Here are my top 5 sports/party events in the world of sport.

Boxing Day Test at the MCG
The first day of Australia's (usually) sole home test at the MCG has always been a bit of a party day. After all it is Boxing Day, the day after Christmas and the 80,000 plus crowd is very much in a festive mood. Sure, the crowd want to see their own cricketers play well but with plenty of casual cricket followers at the ground as well, there is plenty of reason for the Mexican waves, bouncing beach balls and costumes.

Emirates Melbourne Cup
That Melbourne gets another event on this list is testament to the greatest sporting city in the world. Furthermore, the day of the race that stops two nations is a public holiday in the state of Victoria. But most people know horse racing as well as they would know quantum physics. Hence, most of the punters are really there to dress up in fancy dresses for the one time of the year, sip heaps of champagne and spend lots of money on horses with some funny names.

New Zealand Sevens
The NZ Sevens has become the template for Sevens events worldwide and bar Hong Kong, there's really no event like it. It has almost gotten to the point where all the attention is on those crazy costumes and less on the field. But then again, organizers have always seen tickets sold within minutes each time they come out so they're definitely doing something right.

Hong Kong Sevens
The oldest, original and most famous Sevens tournament in the world. It may have lost its lustre in recent times with the Sevens World Series popping up but there's no doubt that every team wants to win in Hong Kong. And the party around the field is probably bigger and more cosmopolitan featuring European expatriates and tourists to one of the world's most vibrant cities.

Super Bowl
The sports/party event of the year. Ok, the action is pretty huge and a Super Bowl ticket is pretty expensive - think at least double a Rugby World Cup ticket. Then again, the Super Bowl extends beyond the stadium and the host city with all of America, Canada and much of the world transfixed for four hours with the beers and roast on one football match, often not featuring their team. That's only part of the story - the Super Bowl in Indianapolis this year is bigger than ever with the media day opened to the public for the first time ever. The Super Bowl has become not just about Sunday but the week leading up to it.