Brian Rudman: Who dares wins in farcical move to give draconian powers to sponsors

The 2007 Major Events Management Act has turned much of Auckland into an exclusive economic zone for the benefit of Rugby World Cup sponsors.

It's already in force, not that many of us know, and any Aucklander - to say nothing of visitors - who falls foul of its protectionist tendrils risks criminal prosecution and a fine of up to $150,000.

The appalling thing is we've handed these draconian powers to the rugby bosses and their sponsors but they don't work. Not to stop the organisers' biggest bogey, ambush marketing.

The farcical expulsion of 36 comely maidens from a South African soccer stadium for wearing orange dresses last week demonstrates that.

In pushing the legislation through Parliament, the previous Minister for the Rugby World Cup, Trevor Mallard, said, "It is impossible to host major events these days without enormous financial contributions from large sponsors. These companies will not provide sponsorship dollars if others are allowed to manipulate public perceptions by falsely suggesting a link with those events."

Yet similar legislation, forced on South Africa by international organisers of the soccer World Cup for the same reasons, has proved a toothless tiger. A worldwide joke, thanks in large part to the legislation designed to stamp it out.

The possibility of 36 Dutch and South African beauties being locked in a South African slammer for up to six months for the crime of wearing orange added a special frisson to the ambush and sent the story whizzing around the world.

The orange invasion was, as football authority Fifa alleged, an ambush by a Dutch beer company, Bavaria, but the legislation did nothing to preserve and protect the official beer sponsor's patch. All it did was make the world mock Fifa and the South African authorities, and make the rest of the world feel a little sorry for the banned and bullied cheerleaders.

Of course the cheeky Dutch brewers milked it for all they could, a spokesman harumphing that there was no branding on the dress and that "Fifa don't have a monopoly over orange".

Now we learn Fifa has come to a confidential out-of-court settlement with Bavaria and won't press charges.

To both sides, it's a rematch. At the 2006 World Cup in Germany, the same company carried off a similar stunt when scores of Dutchmen turned up for a Stuttgart game wearing orange lederhosen bearing the company name. The men were told to strip, and very publicly did, gaining worldwide attention by remaining in their underwear during the game.

The irony is that this heavy-handedness has guaranteed we all know the name and company colour of the ambusher. As for the official beer sponsor - news reports can't decide between Budweiser and Heineken.

Our legislation will leave our justice system - and the rugby authorities - open to the same sort of worldwide ridicule South Africa and Fifa are experiencing. Whatever the size of an out-of-court settlement, it will be peanuts compared with the publicity the cheeky brewer has achieved. And you can bet there'll be no side deal for the New Zealand Government to cover the embarrassment, and for the policing and court costs involved.

In South Africa, the Government was so desperate to attract the World Cup it set up more than 50 special courts to fast-track justice for crimes against soccer - everything from mugging fans to breaching sponsors' monopoly rights. Whether our Government copies this scary trend we'll have to wait and see. But given the similarities in the legislation, and the hysteria the Rugby World Cup seems to spark in our masters, nothing would surprise.

After all, who would have thought that infringing a trademark or brand by doing something as naughty as wearing an orange dress at Eden Park would become a criminal offence carrying a fine of up to $150,000. And if you are cheeky enough to display an illicit tattoo on your bare buttock and dash across the field of play, you risk being locked up for three months.

Still, if you found a sponsor for that little escapade, imagine the worldwide publicity you and your commercial backer could achieve. Lots more, I wager, than forking out zillions to become an official sponsor.