Popcorn please, as fans pack cinema

Hastings fan Sharnel Wepa (in blue) is jubilant after the All Blacks score a try in yesterday's Rugby World Cup final screened live at Focal Point Cinema in Hastings. Photo / Warren Buckland

It was all unofficial but as fan zones go it was one of the greatest as more than 450 people packed into the Focal Point Cinema in Hastings for yesterday's Rugby World Cup final.

Business owner Matt Bell, who watched at the much smaller Feilding theatre where he and wife Julie started their now three-venue Focal Point Cinema chain in 2007, said the idea to open up the two cinemas and a third in Levin, came from a Hastings District Council staff member who said Hastings was looking for a fan zone. But he never expected the enthusiasm which developed in Hastings, where he revived the historic theatre three years ago after it had been vacated by major cinema chain Reading.

Focal Point Cinema in Hastings was packed with fans for the World Cup final.

He "tested the water" by opening one of the three theatres at the Heretaunga St East complex for the All Blacks' quarter-final against France a fortnight ago, and packed it with 120 fans.

There were about 270 when his staff opened two of the theatres for the semifinal against South Africa, and by 5am yesterday it was a full house in all three theatres to watch Prime TV's live relay of Sky TV's telecast. It was free entry, which impressed Hastings district councillor Henare O'Keefe, who took his grandchildren along for what he said was "one of those times everyone remembers forever".

"I think it's criminal that our national game is not free-to-air," he said.

"I can see the commercial reality, but a lot of our people don't see these events, and don't get a taste for what it is like."

A former prop, who reckons his playing weight of about 95kg wouldn't even get him a look at halfback in the modern game, took the grandchildren along to join a crowd which he said crossed the ranges of age, ethnicity and "decile" to celebrate the occasion, despite having to get out of bed before dawn to get into town in time. "Aaah, coffee, ice cream and popcorn for breakfast," he said. "What the heck, who cares? It [Rugby World Cup] only comes around once every four years, and we're not always in the final. It was the next best thing to being there.

"What it demonstrated to me more than ever is how important rugby is, that's it's more than a sport," he said. "It's what we are, it's a religion."

Mr Bell, who includes among his Feilding theatregoers cup-winning halfback Aaron Smith and the Whitelock family, said the theatre industry did it tough when the 2011 Rugby World Cup was in New Zealand. Major movie nights were in direct competition with the big matches in the cup.

But, even though plenty of coffee, icecream and popcorn was sold, it wasn't about a payback.

"There were a lot of family groups, so it was good all round," he said. "There was the PR, but really it was something I really enjoy doing."