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Lovely playing surface; Roof closed to keep out the rain; Aging commentator happy - Well done Canada Rugby!
23 March 2016
In many ways it took the city of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada to set several new standards for hosting and staging tournaments of the HSBC World Sevens series. Read on...
The players of the 16 competing international sevens rugby teams, and we of the following media, who had travelled up to Canada from the previous week’s activities at the 2016 Las Vegas sevens found a very warm welcome from the local officials of Vancouver. They were very excited about staging a sevens tour event for the first time.
Of course we kinda knew their welcome would be warm; Canadians are like that aren’t they? And we weren’t even put off from enjoying their new tournament by the local weather which was raining and pretty awful for the full week we were in town.
That’s because the first of the two key matters which will now mark the Canada tournament as distinct from every other in the event’s 16-season history were; 1) that the two days of action (45 games) was held on a flat even but full-sized artificial playing surface. That meant there was no excuse for sluggish play. Indeed the evenness of surface encouraged speedy, dynamic action which thrilled the crowds throughout.
The second exclusive factor was the superb BC Place stadium itself. It has a closed-roof design which has not been seen on any sevens tour tournament before. The locals had closed its roof days in advance of the playing action. That meant any outside elements were therefore shut out completely. That encouraged the crowds to come, umbrellas not required. In fact on day one so many fans turned up at the same time that there was early congestion at a number of the entry points. A nice problem to have I would have thought!
To be absolutely correct the artificial field was not exactly unique to the Vancouver event as part of the HSBC World Sevens Series. The previous week in Las Vegas the field there, in place at Sam Boyd Stadium had been synthetic too, but it had been widened from a previous American Football width of 59-metres so therefore was still not quite that of a full-sized rugby union field.
Canada’s conditions provided just that – the roof above was the bonus which made it unique, quite the best ever on the tour.
Speaking modestly I am one of the few who should know; I was there in Dubai in 1999 when the IRB sevens circuit made its tentative touring start. In about 110 stops which I have made since then the playing conditions for the sevens in Vancouver have never been bettered. I have to say it but new standards have been set.
To the point now where suddenly it might feel very strange for the best 12 men’s and 12 women’s teams when they set out in stern Olympic competition in Rio in August. Current photographs show that hard-working crews are in Rio trying to meet deadlines for constructing the simplest of fields set on the outskirts of town with marquees and temporary stands being manoeuvred into place. We are told teams might change to play in giant impermanent structures.
It will be at the very least a great contrast between the standards set in Vancouver and rugby’s newest and grandest showpiece event – the Olympic Games.
So bravo Canada!
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Born in Stratford, Taranaki and All Black prop Mark Allen was forever known as 'Bull' (named after an American TV character). He became so popular Rugby Park in Taranaki was re-named the 'Bull Ring' for a time.
McLAREN, BILL
The famous Scottish rugby commentator, a man who set standards in the art of television commentary which, in the end, gained him worldwide acclaim.
Raised in the Scottish border town of Hawick, where he was a teacher all his working life, young McLaren was a good enough player to earn himself a Scottish trial in the years immediately after his service in World War II. However illness struck him down and during a lengthy stay in hospital he began broadcasting over the hospital radio system.
On his discharge and unable to play anymore he took to rugby commentary. From his beloved Mansfield Park in Hawick he started on a career at the microphone that was to last more than 50 years. His first international call was on radio for a Scottish Districts game v South Africa while during the 1951-52 tour.
His reputation grew quickly and by 1953-54 he was commentating Scottish test matches from Murrayfield. He recalls how that same winter the BBC sent him to Cardiff to observe the great New Zealand radio man Winston McCarthy in action. Bill tells the story of being amazed at how excited McCarthy got during a game. ‘At one stage he nearly fell forward out of the commentary box. I had to hold his coat to keep him in the box!’
The big change for McLaren came in 1959 when, though continuing to be a shcoolmaster, he changed to working part-time for BBC television. For the first time TV commentary of rugby was turned into the unique form it is today. No more endless verbiage as required in radio description, instead an attention came to identification of players by face and number; there was explanations given of refereeing decisions; plus identification of the placement of the game on the field. And most uniquely to McLaren, entertaining background and statistical information about the personalities in the game. The man himself filled large sheets of background notes on every player taking part in every fixture he worked on. The ‘sheets’ became sought after souvenirs and sometimes were auctioned for charity at rugby dinners.
McLaren lived by his attention to preparation; he often told budding broadcasters ‘the secret of good broadcasting is never to neglect your homework.’
He did all his work to perfection and became a huge personality in the game. It was all done with a gentle Scottish accent and cheerful attitude to life which was admired with affection all over the world. His influence over all things was perhaps summed up by one Scottish player, lamenting a narrow loss one time in the Five Nations Championship. Said the player, ‘aye, we’d have played much better if Bill McLaren had been commentatin’.’
Bill continued at the microphone until he was close to 80 years of age. He retired from BBC TV in 2002 after exactly 50 years of international broadcasting. The reaction to his departure was amazing, with much media coverage in press, radio and TV and, of course from his many fans around the world who had learned much more about rugby because of his lifetime’s commitment to it.
Who captained the All Blacks at the 1991 Rugby World Cup?
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