[RWC2019][Pool A] Round 4 - Japan vs. Scotland (13/10/2019)

[TRF_heineken]

All 4 of Sunday's games are under review. Depending on the Typhoon, and how it's course is heading towards the weekend over Japan. According to Tournament Director, Alan Gilpin, They will review the situation on a regular basis and make the calls if and when necessary.

 

[Jockstap]

With world rugby running the show I'd be very worried if I was Scotland.

 

[ncurd]

Planning could/would have sorted this out. Ballot type system, invalidate tickets starting from cheapest to most expensive and refund those unfortunate people, etc. Reality is moving cities would have meant a large number of original ticket holders wouldn't have been able to attend anyway.

I think you may oversimplify things, it just took the London Marathon 6 months to run a random number generator to determine who got in. This kind of thing at the last minuite would of led to misinformation and absolute chaos likely at the alternative stadium. Even if you said play in front of an empty stadium people would of turned up.

 

[donmcdazzle]

I think you may oversimplify things, it just took the London Marathon 6 months to run a random number generator to determine who got in. This kind of thing at the last minuite would of led to misinformation and absolute chaos likely at the alternative stadium. Even if you said play in front of an empty stadium people would of turned up.

You're right of course, but you'd think given 8 years of lead time they could have thought of something better than "ah well, just cancel then".... shocking.

 

[ncurd]

You're right of course, but you'd think given 8 years of lead time they could have thought of something better than "ah well, just cancel then".... shocking.

The issue is "cancel it" has probably been planned for 8 years in case of typhoon. Reality is the complexities of an alternative venue, ticketing for that, logistics for teams, support staff, event support (TV, stadium staff, volunteers) actually make reorganisation a complete logistical nightmare.

 

[TRF_heineken]

I think you may oversimplify things, it just took the London Marathon 6 months to run a random number generator to determine who got in. This kind of thing at the last minuite would of led to misinformation and absolute chaos likely at the alternative stadium. Even if you said play in front of an empty stadium people would of turned up.

Especially those who are on the plane right now on their way to Japan. Not knowing of what is happening right now depending on the kind of plane and seats you have.

One of my bosses are flying out tomorrow morning, And is expected to land in Japan some time on Saturday afternoon after his 25 hour flight...

He has tickets to the Ireland vs. Samoa game 2 QF's, the Semi-Finals and the Final.

 

[Which Tyler]

One of the reasons for not moving it to another stadium, is that the game would be moved to a downsized stadium, and therefore, if theoretically all fans who bought tickets to Yokohama stadium wanted to go to the moved, there'd be tens of thousands who'd not be able to get into the stadium. So they'd have to essentially play instead to an empty stadium, which I don't think World Rugby wanted/was willing to do. It was essentially have a game with fans, or nothing.

A] There are a number of ways around that.
B] A match behind closed doors is still better than no match at all - it's not ideal, but at least you get an actual result, decided by rugby ability, rather than an on-paper 0-0 draw.

 

[donmcdazzle]

The issue is "cancel it" has probably been planned for 8 years in case of typhoon. Reality is the complexities of an alternative venue, ticketing for that, logistics for teams, support staff, event support (TV, stadium staff, volunteers) actually make reorganisation a complete logistical nightmare.

I understand that it would be a huge task, I guess my point is that in 8 years you would think they should have considered all of those complexities and made a plan to overcome them. They had 8 years to devise a plan to overcome them...

 

[Scotty]

To be honest mate i dont know who you support but what your saying is rubbish... Scotland was robbed last world cup and its clear and labled #1 of thr worst refing decisions in international rugby. I hope the game goes on so Scotland can put Japan in their place which is not in the quarter finals against the boks or the all blacks...

I think Scotland are the better team but Japan beat Ireland where ad Scotland got properly put in their place by Ireland so i dont think this game will be as cut and dry as your saying. Japan know the conditions and are on form, you really cant discount that so i genuinly think this could be a very good contest rather than a walk over.

 

[retired9]

Personally I think it is unthinkable that a deciding match with progression to the QF up for grabs could be just cancelled. It may not be the spectacle desired but at least playing the game behind closed doors would both teams a chance to fairly compete for the chance to qualify.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I think people underestimate the logistical difficulty in moving a planned event of such a scale to a new venue on short notice. Lets say there is even availability of a venue that would suffice? Its not one or two parties that need to agree, you can be damn sure no event will take place if all licenses, clearances and insurances relating to such aren't in place and those can take months to organize for an event of the scale of a RWC pool match. You are talking about traffic clearances, health and safety regs etc etc. It might be better in Japan but good luck trying to get any public works departments in SA to accommodate you on such short notice.

Don't get me wrong it would be a travesty of note not to have any game but it would be even more of a travesty if the games went ahead and even 1 person got injured because of an avoidable hazard. I believe the organizers made clear beforehand the possible implications of probable adverse weather.

 

[donmcdazzle]

I think people underestimate the logistical difficulty in moving a planned event of such a scale to a new venue on short notice. Lets say there is even availability of a venue that would suffice? Its not one or two parties that need to agree, you can be damn sure no event will take place if all licenses, clearances and insurances relating to such aren't in place and those can take months to organize for an event of the scale of a RWC pool match. You are talking about traffic clearances, health and safety regs etc etc. It might be better in Japan but good luck trying to get any public works departments in SA to accommodate you on such short notice.

Don't get me wrong it would be a travesty of note not to have any game but it would be even more of a travesty if the games went ahead and even 1 person got injured because of an avoidable hazard. I believe the organizers made clear beforehand the possible implications of probable adverse weather.

I guess that is what the 8 or 9 years of planning time were for... work out all the steps involved in potentially moving a match, figure out how to overcome each step, do all the work in advance, then have a plan in place that you can activate in such a circumstance. You're right in that if you just tried to do it now it is impossible, but you'd think a plan could have come together with years of planning time available.

 

[MikeTheNative]

I guess that is what the 8 or 9 years of planning time were for... work out all the steps involved in potentially moving a match, figure out how to overcome each step, do all the work in advance, then have a plan in place that you can activate in such a circumstance. You're right in that if you just tried to do it now it is impossible, but you'd think a plan could have come together with years of planning time available.

You would need to plan for a 2nd venue for every single game in that case and even then your 2nd choice may be still in the firing line for the bad weather anyways.

 

[ncurd]

I guess that is what the 8 or 9 years of planning time were for... work out all the steps involved in potentially moving a match, figure out how to overcome each step, do all the work in advance, then have a plan in place that you can activate in such a circumstance. You're right in that if you just tried to do it now it is impossible, but you'd think a plan could have come together with years of planning time available.

What your missing is not the planning but the execution of said plan. They have done the planning but discovered a 48 hour notice period is not enough to properly do it.

 

[ncurd]

You would need to plan for a 2nd venue for every single game in that case and even then your 2nd choice may be still in the firing line for the bad weather anyways.

At which point you need a 3rd venue.

BTW none of this is cheap and that's another factor going in.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

I guess that is what the 8 or 9 years of planning time were for... work out all the steps involved in potentially moving a match, figure out how to overcome each step, do all the work in advance, then have a plan in place that you can activate in such a circumstance. You're right in that if you just tried to do it now it is impossible, but you'd think a plan could have come together with years of planning time available.

Yeah, the bid was confirmed in June 2009. Starting the pool games three or four days earlier allowing for contingency days with a stadiums on standby (not even big ones, literally enough for a match and camera crew) is burdensome sure but this is the one of the biggest sporting spectacles of the year, and now it's been irreversibly compromised as a fair and equal competition regardless of whether Japan v Scotland goes ahead, which I'm fairly doubtful of.

The headlines that stick out so far to someone who knows little of the sport are "World Rugby criticise refereeing", "World rugby stand down referee, Angus Gardner" and now "Games called off because of typhoons". Japan beating Ireland and the like wouldn't register for your average person ahead of this and it's massively embarrassing.

 

[Jockstap]

I think people underestimate the logistical difficulty in moving a planned event of such a scale to a new venue on short notice. Lets say there is even availability of a venue that would suffice? Its not one or two parties that need to agree, you can be damn sure no event will take place if all licenses, clearances and insurances relating to such aren't in place and those can take months to organize for an event of the scale of a RWC pool match. You are talking about traffic clearances, health and safety regs etc etc. It might be better in Japan but good luck trying to get any public works departments in SA to accommodate you on such short notice.

Don't get me wrong it would be a travesty of note not to have any game but it would be even more of a travesty if the games went ahead and even 1 person got injured because of an avoidable hazard. I believe the organizers made clear beforehand the possible implications of probable adverse weather.

Like the guy above said forget about all that and play the game in an indoor training faculty with no spectators. Get the two teams on a bus somewhere and have them play. That's it. It's unthinkable that 4 years and more of hard work and prep could come down to bad weather.

 

[MikeTheNative]

Like the guy above said forget about all that and play the game in an indoor training faculty with no spectators. Get the two teams on a bus somewhere and have them play. That's it. It's unthinkable that 4 years and more of hard work and prep could come down to bad weather.

That's not it though is it? International grade games have to have the required standard of medical facilities and staff to go with it. The way some people are talking is as though it's as easy as just finding a pitch and dropping the players off.

 

[Jockstap]

That's not it though is it? International grade games have to have the required standard of medical facilities and staff to go with it. The way some people are talking is as though it's as easy as just finding a pitch and dropping the players off.

It's Japan not a third world country it should be relatively easy.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

That's not it though is it? International grade games have to have the required standard of medical facilities and staff to go with it. The way some people are talking is as though it's as easy as just finding a pitch and dropping the players off.

Any Top League ground would do.