Aloof Lions should stop keeping fans at arm’s length

Letter from New Zealand

The specially constructed marquees erected onto the sides of many pubs in eager anticipation of the visit of a great travelling rugby circus stand dark and unused while the tell-tale signs of upturned stools on bar counters and tables point to a desperately quiet night in what must be one of the world’s quietest capital cities.

There is no doubt the camper van convoys will pitch up in Wellington the closer it gets to kick-off at the Westpac Stadium, a circular coliseum enveloped in a steel casing that prompted its nickname of the “Cake tin.”

The bars will fill with Lions fans and banter will ensue between them and the fiercely competitive yet overwhelmingly friendly locals.

But, for now, all is quiet and there are very few Lions fans to be seen. It is all very different to the scenes we will expect to encounter in the run-up to the second Test back here in the city on July 2.

By then thousands more Lions fans will have arrived.

Many of those who had already arrived here by last night local time were in the organised tour parties patronised by the more genteel sections of the Lions’ support.

And many of those found themselves booked into the same hotel as many journalists and the Lions touring party itself.

In past times this would have been a regular occurrence, everyone in together for the common cause of a Lions victory on foreign soil; and fan and player alike would have rubbed along quite happily. It is part of the allure of a tour of this nature, part of the romance.

Things are different on this tour, however, and nowhere has that shift been more evident than at the Lions team hotel in the heart of Wellington.

Approaching the hotel, one is struck by the conspicuous presence of yellow security barriers around the perimeter of the building.

There must be someone special in town, a mega-star, one thinks to oneself. Maybe its Madonna, or Maradona; David Beckham, or perhaps Bruce Springsteen. Only a star of that ilk would attract the sort of security barriers presently circling this Wellington hotel.

Entering the hotel is another step again, with the previously public bars and restaurants now restricted to room guests only and those guests having to show identification just to enter.

And what is worse, particularly for those diehard fans who, have paid top dollar and saved up for the best part of four years to come on this trip of a lifetime, is that those supporters have been warned not to try and take pictures of the Lions inside the hotel or face the confiscation of their cameras.

Imagine that. A Lion in your hotel lobby and a two-second pose in front of the instamatic is strictly off-limits. G8 summits have seen less security.

New Zealand is by common consent one of the friendliest, most unthreatening and unthreatened countries on the planet. Its government said no to the USA’s plea for military help in Iraq and if it had said yes, would the Pentagon have noticed?

The Lions may be a professional set-up these days but its management are showing contempt for the people to whom it means so much and the mean-spiritedness of its actions should be deplored.

Compare and contrast the group of Welsh fans who travelled by road from the first game against Bay Of Plenty in Rotorua across the North Island to New Plymouth for the midweek game against Taranaki.

On the way they decided they would make a pilgrimage to home of a rugby icon, Colin ‘Pinetree’ Meads. They stopped in the town they thought the mighty former All Black lived and asked for directions to his house, which were duly given and up they rolled to the farm.

Greeted with courtesy by the great man they were invited in for a drink and a long chat about the old days when the Welsh wizards from valley who back-boned the Lions in those days went toe-to-toe with the legendary Meads. He posed for photographs with his fans, who then left without fuss to continue their journey.

No hassle, no stress, everybody was happy; and no-one lost their camera.