Globalsport/characters

= Characters =

James
Student studying for exams I’m not happy with the government changing the school terms around. I’m worried because I’ll have less time in term four to get ready for my NCEA exams Back

Nadia
Student studying for exams I’m not sure that the government should have changed the school terms around. Some of the teachers aren’t happy, and I think New Zealand is too obsessed with rugby and sport as it is. Is rugby more important than school? Back

Wiremu
Skier annoyed / pleased at the movement of the holidays The government changing the holidays means that the July break will be two weeks later. That’s going to be primo for skiing, because there’ll be way more snow then Back

Sam
Skier annoyed / pleased at the movement of the holidays We always go down south for the last week of the skiing in the September school holidays. No chance of that in 2011 with the terms changed around – the snow will be stuffed by then.

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Rangi
Someone who isn’t interested in rugby who is annoyed about all the hype I think I’m going to go on holiday during the Rugby World Cup. Maybe I’ll go bush for a month. I’m sick to death of it before it starts. All we hear about on TV, everywhere, is this stupid tournament. Not everyone in this country loves rugby.

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Heather
Someone who isn’t interested in rugby who is annoyed about all the hype I do think that we’re pouring too much money and energy into a sports tournament. It’s the same with the Olympics: it’s all about money and not about sport. I’m getting fed up with the endless stuff about the Rugby World Cup on TV

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Dion
Someone who works in Auckland and is worried about the traffic I like rugby but this world cup is going to be a nightmare for me. I work as a courier driver in Auckland and it’s just going to be a nightmare with traffic in the city and all the people everywhere.

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Sara
Someone who works in Auckland and is worried about the traffic I’m still not sure that Auckland is going to be ready for this world cup – I don’t know about other centres – but we have enough traffic problems now without all the extras. Working as an ambulance officer, I’m worried that we’re going to struggle to get through traffic to get to patients

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Trevor
Motel owner in a Rugby World Cup city I manage a 36 room motel in Wellington, and I’m already booked solid through the months leading up to and following of the Rugby World Cup, even given that like many others I’m charging high season rates. I am going to be able to afford to expand my business on the back of money the tourists will bring in.

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Anthea
Accommodation provider in a Rugby World Cup city I run a youth hostel in Wellington and we are just going to be jumping from August through to the middle of November. Lots of people have made bookings to stay on after the Rugby World Cup has finished. Spring is usually a more quiet time of the year, so we’re really delighted with the timing

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Kevin
Tourist operator I own and run a tandem sky-dive operation out of Rotorua. I was working near Sydney when the 2003 Rugby World Cup was held in Australia and we were busier than we’ve ever been over those six weeks. The tourists are going to flock to the Bay of Plenty in between games in 2011, and it’s going lift the whole region economically.

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Temepara
Tourist operator I work in Queenstown on one of the bungy jumping operations and I think the Rugby World Cup is going to be bigger for New Zealand tourism than Lord of the Rings was. We’ll be taking on extra staff from August right through to Christmas. This is a great chance to show off New Zealand to the world.

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Mike
Skifield owner in South island I think that the school holidays being moved will actually help me and the other south island skifield operators. Not only will the holidays in July be better, but we’ll get lots more Australian tourists over, because their holidays will be earlier than ours and they’ll know our fields won’t be crowded because kiwi kids will be at school

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Shona
Skifield owner in South island We’ve already had heaps of inquiries from overseas people who are coming to the Rugby World Cup but are planning to come early to spend a fortnight skiing at our resort. 2011 could be our best season ever for overseas tourists.

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David
Airline manager I run a charter airline and I’m looking at whether we’ll need to lease another plane during the Rugby World Cup as tour groups look to travel as a bunch between the venues. Like everyone else in the hospitality industry we’ll be flat out right through the Rugby World Cup season.

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Allan
Restaurateur I manage a fast food restaurant in central Wellington. We’re getting advice from overseas to help us plan for the numbers of people who will be in town over the Rugby World Cup tournament. We have to give these tourists a great experience, and we have to be prepared for the numbers we’re going to get

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Lydia
Restaurateur My staff and I are already thinking about the time around the Rugby World Cup. Our restaurant is between Eden Park and downtown Auckland. I’m looking quite seriously at how we can enlarge our space because we are going to be rushed off our feet for six weeks. I’ll certainly be taking on extra staff.

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Sione
Teacher worried about students I love rugby, don’t get me wrong, but as a high school teacher I am unhappy about the government changing the holidays round. Term four will be too short to do anything worthwhile with, and I think my students’ exam marks will reflect a lack of preparation time.

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Dannielle
Teacher worried about students I can’t get why they couldn’t have played the Rugby World Cup in November and December leading up towards Christmas. As a teacher the students are going to be disrupted by all the hype, and later would have been better for everyone.

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Ben
Rugby fanatic Bring on the Rugby World Cup! People need to get a handle on the fact this whole event is going to be massive for New Zealand and New Zealand rugby. I’m going to be glued to every match on TV and I’ve got tickets lined up for the three pool matches happening in Nelson. Back

Olivia
Rugby fanatic I can’t wait for the Rugby World Cup: I think the government made a good move shifting our school holidays around – we wouldn’t have focused in class anyway – and now we can kick back and enjoy the last part of the tournament. It’s a great experience for us – who knows when we’ll ever get to host it again!

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Emily
Someone who lives near Eden Park stadium I appreciate that the Rugby World Cup is going to bring in lots of money into the country, but for people like me living near Eden Park, it’s just going to be awful: it’s be noisy, there’ll be people everywhere, you won’t be able to get your car out, and people will park in your driveway. I just wish it was already over. Back

Laura
Someone worried about prices going up with all the tourists I want to be able to take my kids on holiday in the term three break because I can’t get time off for long during the summer, but I’m not going to be able to go anywhere because of the Rugby World Cup: everywhere’s going to be booked up and everyone is putting prices up anyway.

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George
Taxi operator in Dunedin I think the Rugby World Cup will be the biggest thing we’ve seen in the city. Everyone in our taxi company is planning to work like crazy through the whole tournament because there’ll be heaps of work around.

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Darryl
Rate payer in a city hosting Rugby World Cup matches I like the fact the council has spruced up the stadium for the Rugby World Cup, but I’d much rather they’d spent the money on improving the footpaths in town and improving other services like the library and the sorting out our old rubbish dump. The Rugby World Cup will be here for a few weeks – what about the people who live here the whole time? And the other thing of course now is that paying to rebuild Christchurch is going to cost a fortune. We should be thinking more about that than sport.

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Rimupae
Rate payer in a city hosting Rugby World Cup matches The council and the government spend money on the Rugby World Cup, but it’s our money! My taxes and my rates! I don’t care about rugby, but I do care about my hospital, the fact one of the local swimming pools was closed last year and that the cost of rubbish collection has led to my rates going up. People’s priorities are wrong.

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Laura
Rate payer in a city hosting Rugby World Cup matches I don’t really care too much about rugby, but I can see that the Rugby World Cup is going to be a big thing for New Zealand. I think the government needs to support it, because it’s a chance for us to show off New Zealand to the world, but I hope people don’t get too carried away. It’s a sport after all.

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Peter
NZ manufacturer The company I work for makes completely NZ made fashion clothing. We are gearing up for our biggest year ever with the Rugby World Cup, but it’s not only us: the outfit we advertise with, the shops who sell our goods and our suppliers are all saying the same thing – we have to make the most of the opportunity with an extra 60 000 visiting tourists coming to NZ in 2011.

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