Mayor wants Cup fans' booze seized

Auckland Mayor Len Brown. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Auckland Mayor Len Brown wants alcohol confiscated from sports fans arriving for Rugby World Cup matches at Eden Park on buses and trains.

Although passengers are allowed to carry alcohol in closed containers on public transport, the mayor says there will be no point if liquor bans in the streets around the stadium are enforced.

There was little apparent enforcement of a ban the police theoretically put in place for last weekend's rugby league test matches at the stadium, where drunken hooligans threw hundreds of bottles and other missiles at players and spectators.

Despite the extent of the mayhem, which drew concerned comments from Prime Minister John Key and Rugby World Cup Minister Murray McCully, the police arrested just six people and charged only one, for assault.

But Mr Brown said yesterday, as he was announcing a mayoral taskforce to deal with Eden Park problems, that fans would not again be allowed to illegally carry and drink alcohol in the supposed liquor-free zone.

He stopped short of calling for a ban on carrying alcohol in closed containers on buses and trains, but said there would be no point if it could not be carried through the liquor-free zone.

"We want people to be aware that if they take alcohol on public transport to Eden Park, they will lose the booze."

Rugby World Cup transport director Bruce Barnard said the policy for fans carrying alcohol on special event trains and buses would be reviewed before the opening Super rugby match at Eden Park in February.

Auckland police operations chief Superintendent Brett England could not be reached for comment yesterday, but after last weekend's violence, he said that "the fact that public transport brought people into the grounds along with a lot of alcohol for them to consume" would be addressed.