Only 500 fans show up at McLean Park

The ICC Cricket World Cup on display ahead of the West Indies V United Arab Emirates game at McLean Park yesterday. Photo / Warren Buckland

As Cricket World Cup followers go, South African visitors Mari Houghting, son Gareth, and brother Johannes Els deserve some sort of medal.

They were among about 500 souls who attended the match between West Indies and United Arab Emirates at McLean Park yesterday.

It was the third match they'd been to in the tournament. It was "boring", said Mrs Houghting, in a not too disappointed sort of way, somehow recognising that just about any sports event with 500 spectators in a venue which could have packed-in more than 10,000 can tend to lack a bit of atmosphere.

While it was their third match in the tournament, they haven't yet caught up with South Africa, who they hope to see for the first time "in the semis".

As it happened, they also missed part of the game. They hadn't realised it was an 11am start and were downtown at the Masonic when they realised, and 30 overs were gone by the time they reached the fortress - which is what McLean Park resembled with streets and parking spaces blocked off, some for taxis and buses which never came.

And security to beat the band, as if there really was going to be 10,000. There seemed as much security outside as inside - someone said they must have outnumbered the crowd.

At any time of the day, there were 16-18 security staff and Maori Wardens staffing gates or simply patrolling streets, the greatest stayer of all perhaps being Anita Rouse, a Maori Warden, who was on deck for almost 12 hours at the Latham St entrance to the Nelson Park secure area.

She was there from 6am, until soon after the match ended at 5.35pm, no complaints and reckoning it was good for Napier, even if yesterday's crowd was disappointing. Cricket wasn't her thing, she would have preferred the All Blacks.

When Mrs Houghting arrived - she's from Kruger Park, she and her family took seats in the Graeme Lowe Stand, which was near-empty.

There were two other types of fans - a group of Caribbean supporters, numbering, maybe 50, holding pride of place as much as they could on the other side of the ground in the Harris Stand, willing the Windies to an expected win which was vital for their team to be in the hunt for a place in the quarter finals.

The other group wore orange t-shirts, with white motifs on the front, and they waited for sixes to be hit their way in the hope that a one-handed catch thereof might bring them to new riches, courtesy of a million-dollar pot up for grabs during the tournament.

Another fan was a senior officer from the Dawn Princess who had always wanted to see "India" play. And there was a dad and the boy who left before it was all over, saying it was a great game.

One who wasn't there, was Cyclone Pam, although after some rain in parts of Napier overnight it had been a grey day with some worries the weather might decide the outcome.

The ground's floodlights were on by 4.30pm, shedding some new light, as did Mrs Houghting when she revealed, really, she was there.

It turned out she loves Napier, so much so that perhaps she should have worn an orange t-shirt.

"If I win the lottery," she said, "I will buy a flat here."