Rugby
 The new 'Jade stadion', formerly Lancaster Stadion, holding up to 35 thousand people was the spot to hold the rugby 'Super 12' game between the Christchurch Crusader and the Cats from Pretoria (South Africa). |
 Me and my friend Nadine just before we turned into the stadion and our seats. |
 Inside the stadion and the masses of people. The available seats were approximately 75% occupied, even if the game was not regarded as very high profile. Christchurch's crowd is very much in rugby and patriotic to its local teams. |
 Before the game started, cheerleaders warmed up the visitors with dance and a smile on the face. I liked it! :-) |
 When the Crusaders play, it's almost like a theater play. After the cheerleaders have done their job, the maskots of the team, the Black Knight, takes his round through the stadion. He is franatiqually received by the crowd waving all kinds of fan articles, like frags.. |
 ... sword imitations, or other red and black coloured items. |
 Normally introduced before the Black Knight shows up, but in this case after him, the seven knights in full armour on their horses. |
 Then the Crusader showed up supported by a bit of 'firework'. |
 Just before a 'scrumb', at typical part of the NZ rugby rules. There are two main sets of rules played in NZ, which distinguishs between Rugby Union and Rugby League. In Australia there is a third one which is faster and without scrumbs. |
 During the break between first and second half (both each 40min) there is a fun event taking place: one of the visitors is identified via his/her seat number and has got 40s time to reach the vehicle you see here. It's filled with free-coupons for some big mall and the selected guy has one minute to grap as many as he/she can. |
 Another nice piece of red and black clothes you can wear. As you can see the background is almost all red (despite the blue distractions to the left and right) indicating the huge support. |
 Jeff (my flatmate), his friend and Nadine (my friend) and I (yes, you can't see me, as I take the photo). |
 The crowd around as involved in 'the wave' - a classic of each fan packed stadion. |
 The second half was not as much attractive as the first half. For a long time it was 60-20 for the Crusaders. This indicates that the South Africans were not really an even partner in the game. |
 Right at the end, there was one of the usual gatherings outside the field while the other team has a so called 'conversion', an extra shot through the gate after a successfull trie. |