RUGBY: GERRY THORNLEYtalks to World Cup chief executive Martin Snedden about the continuing impact of the earthquake on preparations

THE SCALE of human loss and damage caused by the Christchurch earthquake can scarcely be imagined. The second-deadliest natural disaster recorded in New Zealand (after the 1931 Hawke’s Bay earthquake), Prime Minister John Key stated that February 22nd “may well be New Zealand’s darkest day”.

The final death toll is set to be about 182, while 1,000 of the 4,000 buildings within the Four Avenues were expected to be demolished, as will an estimated 10,000 houses in the suburbs.

What the rest of the world, Ireland included, appreciates even less is the continuing scale of the damage.

Martin Snedden, the chief executive of Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd, sits outside Bruxelles off Grafton Street in Dublin on a sunlit mid-morning and tries to put this in context.

“The whole centre of the city – like you imagine this whole area here – is in complete shutdown, and will be for the whole of 2011, while they demolish 500-plus buildings. And there’s whole areas of suburban housing that have been destroyed, so it’s a really terrible thing for the city.”

The disruption caused to the 2011 World Cup by the earthquake pales by comparison. “It was really stressful because it’s so much more than rugby,” says Snedden. “You’re dealing with people’s lives. For six weeks that was really intense.”

Nevertheless, the effects have been significant and, to a large degree, two-fold. “Number one is having to transfer the games, but then secondly trying to work out how we can keep the people of Christchurch, who are now facing huge challenges in their day to day lives, connected to the World Cup. We were expecting them, of course, to be a part of the real rugby centre of the event. So there’s a big challenge there making sure we keep them involved.”

Christchurch’s five pool matches have been relocated to Nelson, Dunedin, Invercargill, Wellington and North Harbour, while the city’s two quarter-finals have been moved to Eden Park in Auckland. This has also meant 150,000 pre-sold tickets being cancelled and €15 million being returned.

Priority will be given to those who had purchased tickets for the relevant eight games.

Snedden, a former New Zealand medium pace bowler for 10 years who played against Ireland twice in Belfast, has an easy-going nature, which is probably just as well, and calmly maintains that in all other respects preparations for the tournament are on track. This includes the new 30,000-capacity Forsyth Barr Stadium in Otago, which will be the world’s first fully enclosed grassed stadium, as its roof will be constructed with a clear ETFE roof, the same material as used at Allianz Arena and the Water Cube in Beijing.

It is also where Ireland will meet Italy in their final pool match on October 2nd. “It’s about two months away from being finished, but it’s in great shape, it’s dead on track and it’s going to be a really interesting experience. The clear plastic roof means no wind and no rain, which is probably a good thing in Dunedin, and it’s one of the few grounds in New Zealand that’s built just for rugby, not rugby and cricket, so the grandstands are right on the touchlines. So the atmosphere is going to be pretty good and it coincides with probably the highest number of Irish fans that are going to be there.”

All told, RWC organisers are anticipating at least 85,000 visitors, averaging 3.2 tickets each, with just shy of 20,000 of them coming from Ireland and Britain. On foot of a 15,000-strong survey, the organisers estimate the average stay will be 23 days.

On the vexed issue of New Zealand accommodating such an influx, Snedden is not as convincing. “Well, that’s a challenge, and it has been right from the start. There are pockets where it becomes a real challenge, a bit like what Cardiff is going to face in a few weeks’ time. There has to be a lot of people are staying with friends and family. But it’s been pretty quiet on this issue and I’m just crossing my fingers it’s sorting itself out under the radar.”

The other big debate amongst the New Zealand media is how much the tournament is liable to cost the country. Only last week, the New Zealand Herald’s front page declared the deficit incurred for hosting the World Cup would be €270 million, prompting a right of reply from Snedden.

While acknowledging the figure of €168 million for operational costs as part of the overall cost of €650 million, he claimed the Herald “inexplicably ignored” the NZ $268 million (€145m) from match ticket sales. He also disputed the Herald including the €107 million for building the Otago Stadium as part of the World Cup’s overall costs, as well as the Herald’s inclusion of €70 million for upgrading “ports and airports”, adding the timing of these events was largely coincidental.

Besides which, the World Cup was the catalyst for badly-needed upgrading of stadia, while there should be no white elephants.

Another benefit is an “intangible one”, namely, “a nation realising that it has the ability to do some things they thought were beyond it.”

He cites Australia dispelling doubts about its ability to host an Olympics, and the palpable “shot in the arm” which that country received subsequently, specifically in hosting other events.

With an additional 600 events confirmed so far as part of the accompanying Real New Zealand Festival, and admitting it is “highly unlikely” New Zealand will ever host the tournament again, his main concern henceforth is simply that people enjoy it. “At the end of the event, if people take a deep breath and say that was fantastic to be part of, then people will say that was worth doing. If, at the end of it, people say ‘well, that was a lousy tournament’ then it doesn’t matter what the economic equation is. They’ll be disgruntled.”

Snedden left his job as chief executive with New Zealand Cricket after six years because, as he puts it: “I know this is such a moment in time for New Zealand, and you just want to be in the middle of it. It’s a bit like the London Olympics. Seb Coe knows that is something incredibly special for them. This is for New Zealand, warts and all.”

RWC 2011 employs 130 people currently, but that’s growing, and along with all the other organisations working on the World Cup, come the event itself there will be well in excess of 500. For most of them, the tournament and their jobs finish on October 23rd.

“Within two weeks we’ll have downsized our organisation by 80 per cent. We then spend a few months tidying up the loose ends and then, yeah, you wonder what’s next? But I’m trying to stay away from thinking about it. My theory is this: if the tournament is a great success, then I would expect there might be a few opportunities coming out of that. If not, then I think there’ll be none and I’ll have wasted my time thinking about it,” he reasons good-naturedly.

Not much at stake then, for him or his country.

Maximum tickets available (1.9m): 1.6 million.

Sales target: 1.4 million.

NZ$ Value – NZ $268 million.

Sales to date: 750,000.

Remaining target: 650,000.

Value: NZ $108 million (€58 million)

Projected international visitors to date: 850,000.

Country of origin:

Australia: 29,000.

Ireland and Britain: 19,500.

France: 8,800.

USA Canada: 6,900.

South Africa: 5,200.

Other: 15,600.