Editorial: Sevens a great success

Mason Walker (pictured) was in great form for the Bay of Plenty men's team at the weekend. Photo / Ben Fraser

It was true sevens fever in Rotorua this weekend, and the Rotorua Daily Post team was working extra hard to keep the city and country up to speed with the Bayleys National Sevens at Rotorua International Stadium.

These days it's about a lot more than just a story in Monday's newspaper - it's also about constantly updating our website, Twitter and Facebook. It called for fast fingers at times, but what a fantastic event it was to cover - and attend.

It didn't matter if you weren't a hard-core rugby fan, there were families and friends simply enjoying the sunshine with a picnic, while kids occupied themselves in the kids' area.

Wellington's international sevens tournament has become known as much for its drunkenness and rowdy behaviour as for the sport.

Combine Kiwis and sport and a day in the sun and it can all too often be a recipe for trouble.

But Rotorua's tournament, while much smaller than Wellington's affair, was a far cry from that. Yes, there was alcohol for sale, but there was little or no drunkenness.

Likewise, I didn't see a single police officer, which has come to be an expected sight at large sporting events. As far as I could see, they simply weren't needed.

Organisers say they were proud of the atmosphere during the weekend and weren't aware of any trouble.

The event had been promoted as a family-friendly one and it proved to be just that. And that was refreshing.

Rotorua can be proud of the fantastic way it hosted the tournament. Hundreds of out-of-towners will have left with a fantastic impression of our city.

But there's no time to relax, with the city's next big events coming up. With the Tarawera Ultra, Crankworx, the Warriors game and the Bike Festival for starters ... there will be plenty to keep us snapping, tweeting, typing, and Facebooking our hearts out. We can't wait.