Beer staff boost to cut frothing at the mouth

Eden Park will have more staff at the beer pump to avoid further queuing problems. Photo / Nick Reed

Eden Park will have more staff at the beer pump to avoid further queuing problems.

Stadium management have admitted mistakes at last weekend's Twenty20 cricket match between New Zealand and Pakistan which led to fan complaints of having to wait 45 minutes to get a beer.

Eden Park chief executive Guy Ngata said a key part of the problem was using a tap system for beer compared to the stadium's usual method of issuing drinks in plastic bottles.

Plastic bottles will be used for February's two-day hosting of the NRL Nines but Mr Ngata says extra staff will still be used. The tap system will be tested again next Sunday at the Black Caps' one-day international against Pakistan - and also on February 3 for an ODI between New Zealand and Australia.

"We're putting more staff on and making more equipment available to manage expectation," Mr Ngata told the Weekend Herald.

"Last weekend we had beer on a draught, tap system as opposed to plastic bottles which we'd normally have.

"That led to queuing and increased length of time for service, particularly at the start of the game.

"We had a lot of people arriving close to the first ball, wanting to get something to eat and drink before sitting down for the start of play and we just couldn't get on top of it due to working off draught and not bottles.

"We've got to get that right and have been working very closely with DB Breweries, who are New Zealand Cricket's partner, from a pourage point-of-view for the one-dayers. We're also working with Independent Liquor who do the Nines to make sure we've got stronger speed and delivery."

Martin Snedden, chief executive of Nines organiser Duco Events, said he was comfortable there wouldn't be problems with pouring at the Nines next month.

Mr Snedden said the longer format of the rugby league event reduced the risk of queues.

"The Nines go over two days as opposed to a few hours with a T20 cricket match," he said.