Photo: Photosport
The Crusaders don't want any Chiefs fans to bring cowbells to the Super Rugby Pacific final in Christchurch on Saturday.
The final is set up as the perfect crescendo to a compelling 2025 season, with the Chiefs, the number one ranked team in the round robin and second ranked Crusaders to duke it out.
In a LinkedIn post, Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge said Chiefs fans were welcome, but not their noisy cowbells.
"There's also the fact that it's tight. It's not FMG (Farmers Mutual Group) Stadium or Eden Park, New Zealand. It's tight. It's compact and there's just enough room to wave a really thin flag. There ain't no room to swing a bloody big cowbell and take out the person sitting in the seat beside you.
"This is going to be a game for the ages. It's going to be a game for fans to enjoy. All Chiefs Rugby Club fans are hugely welcome to come and enjoy the venue."
"No cowbells. I'll be asking Venues Ōtautahi to melt them down at the gate. So, seriously, leave them at home!"
However, Chiefs chief executive Simon Graafhuis has suggested an alternate option for the franchise faithful, a digital cowbell.
"We do have a virtual cowbell which people can go online and download at cowbell.co.nz so it would be great if everyone could get on board," Graafhuis told RNZ's Midday Report.
"I think we'll just take it as a compliment that they're probably a little bit worried about our fans and the impact they can have."
Graafhuis said having experienced many sporting events around the world, New Zealanders could learn a bit about supporting their team.
"New Zealand fans are pretty quiet and the atmosphere is probably not as good as some of the other more passionate places and I think we're (Chiefs) probably the exception with our fan base here (Hamilton)."
Keeping home advantage
The Crusaders have never lost a playoff match. Since Super Rugby began in 1996, they've gone unbeaten in 31 home finals and playoff games across three decades.
For the last 14 years, the 17,000-capacity Apollo Projects stadium has hosted the Crusaders but the franchise is set to move to the much bigger One New Zealand Te Kaha Stadium, when it opens next year.
Mansbridge said the Crusaders earned their home advantage.
"Why would you let a home team advantage go to another team? If you think about it in reverse they wouldn't let us take up our horses and play the Crusaders entry song at the start of the game. Quite often when we play at their home ground the entry music will be nothing or a slightly tongue and cheek song so I don't think it's unfair for us to expect Crusaders fans to be a little bit louder than from fans from the north.
"The other thing just to keep in mind is I know some fans get very excited about this, I've already had a few phone angry calls this morning from Chiefs fans but Clayton [McMillan] and his team will not be distracted by this so people should probably put into context what's going on here and participate in the fun and not be so precious about it."
Mansbridge said the stadium, which was always going to be a temporary home, is too cramped.
"The seat centres there are the smallest in the country by about 30 percent and the distance between the knees and the back, it's a very very difficult stadium to watch rugby in. The seats are significantly smaller than what will be in our new stadium so we don't want to encourage too many people waving too much stuff around.
"There is a genuine health and safety concern but do we want Chiefs fans there and do we want them passionate, excited, interested and yelling and screaming - absolutely we do so that's why we didn't geo-block the ticket sales."
Mansbridge said people will try to sneak them in but "we're not going to have hundreds and hundreds of cowbells in the stadium".
He joked earlier in a LinkedIn post that he would be asking Venues Ōtautahi to melt them down at the gate.
If Chiefs fans do show up with cowbells security will put them aside on entry and fans can collect them after the game.
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