Northland venue just the ticket Sneddon

Rugby World Cup bosses Martin Sneddon and Mike Miller were clearly impressed with their first look around the Northland Events Centre yesterday - almost one year to the day before the 2011 World Cup kicks off in New Zealand.
The chief executive and Irish-based managing director were in Whangarei yesterday to kick off the publicity campaign surrounding the launch of the cup's second stage of ticket sales - which become available to the public tomorrow.
"It's better than I thought," Sneddon said. "I knew it would be good but I didn't think it would be as classy as it is.
"I know it hasn't always been plain sailing for the decision-makers but in my view they've been vindicated now with the end result. The reaction from the community especially with the [Northland] team playing well - there's a great feel around it."
The pair were appreciative of the new events centre's design.
"They've clearly thought about how they can stretch their budget as far as they possibly can so they have scrimped and saved to make sure they have what they wanted," Miller said.
"As a result, I think it's a fantastic facility which will be great for the local community and I think they've thought long and hard about how it can be used all year around for everyone."
Whangarei will host two games during the RWC - between Canada and Tonga on September 14 and Tonga and Japan a week later, as well as training camps for various teams - which will attract rugby fans from the countries involved as well as others.
"The key is to make sure that [overseas] visitors understand your part in the rugby heritage of New Zealand because that's what they want to see when they get here," Miller said.
"They've heard all their lives how important rugby is in New Zealand - so they're going to want to experience everything and they'll have a lot of choices on offer as to where they go, so it's up to each community to come up with something to offer them."
Sneddon said the regions would compete for their share of the tourism dollar and that suited the organisers because it would make sure community pride ensured the event got better and better.
The former New Zealand cricketer said the cup had galvanised city and provincial centres into action, into upgrades such as that of Nelson's Trafalgar Park, new buildings, as in Whangarei, and new stadiums such as in Dunedin.
"It will be fantastic here next year and the RWC will bring something even more special to it [the facility] and I think the city of Whangarei and the Northland region are going to have a ball," he said.
Sneddon said ticket sales had been slightly ahead of their goals at this stage and tomorrow the organisation would swing into the second phase of sales with individual match tickets becoming available.
The first phase sold about half a million tickets, with a nett value of $76 million.
"RWC is going to be the biggest event New Zealand has ever seen, so people shouldn't miss the opportunity of coming to games," Miller said.
The Northland regional RWC co-ordination group has been charged with making the Northern part of the competition a success.
Regional co-ordinator Stewart McElwain said the numbers of overseas visitors could only be guessed at until the official travel agents for the event released their bookings in November.
He said the scale of visitors would be unprecedented, with at least six cruise liners visiting the Bay of Islands.
Sneddon said with the deadline now less than a year away, the pressure would now go on the regions to stamp their own mark on the cup.
"You've all achieved something magnificent with what you've done here ... and now I think the attention turns to the rest of the job - particularly because the kick-off date is not changing, it's happening on September 9, come hell or high water - so that in itself will drive more urgency and action, and I don't have any doubt that Northland will do a great job," he said.