Colin Mansbridge: Crusaders chief executive on the decision to ban cowbells from the Super Rugby Pacific final

The Crusaders are hoping Chiefs fans will come check out the action at this weekend's Super Rugby Pacific final in Christchurch - but they've suggested leaving the cowbells at home.

In a LinkedIn post, Crusaders chief executive Colin Mansbridge promised this would be a game fans would enjoy, but there's no room for cowbells in the stadium.

Mansbridge jokingly claimed they'd be melted down and turned into a trophy - but he's serious about the risks.

"You go to Eden Park, you go to FMG, you go to any other venue in the country and you've got a bit of leg room and a bit of bum room, but you don't in this place."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hither or I think Robert Patman's got it a bit wrong.
If they weren't building nuclear weapons, why would they have
to build the nuclear facilities three hundred feet below the surface. Look,
I think we all know what's going on here. They're
not building nuclear weapons, but they just have to keep
everything safe, far far away from any bombs. Hey. Yeah, no,
we didn't come down in the last show, and none

(00:20):
of us did eighteen past five. Now listen, there's been
a bit of cheek from the Crusaders ahead of the
Super Rugby Final. As we know, they've told the Chief
supporters attending Saturday's game that they're not allowed to bring
the cow bells in they love the cowbells if they
love the chiefs. This is what it usually sounds like.

(00:42):
Colin Mansbridge's Crusaders CEO, and he is with us. Now
did you like that, Colin?

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Ah, there is awesome here. They're awesome.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Are you just niggling them? Is that all this is about?

Speaker 2 (00:53):
I'll tell you what you know in politics, how you
if you're in government, you blame the opposition for everything
that's gone wrong. Well I'm going to blame the opposition here.
So Simon, the CEO of the chiefs started just doing
these little wee techniques of just you know, bagging me
and and bagging us and just sort of throwing little
hats out there. And then he started on the cowbell thing.

(01:16):
Of course, like a groper. I came in fairly strong
and bit heart hard and large.

Speaker 1 (01:22):
He took the bait.

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Now I can't control the thing. Yeah, I took the bait.
Can't control the thing now. But but but he's he's
you know, he's created a bit of an issue for
his own fans. Will Will We'll make sure that we
melt down all of their cowbells and turn them into
an amazing trophy that we play.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Are you going to stick with us?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Are you?

Speaker 1 (01:40):
You're not going to back down?

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Unfortunately, we're probably gone too far that there are. I'm
going to gestfully sorry. I'm going to seriously say that
the current venue it will be its last finals are
Super Abe Final obviously, and the challenge for it is
is that the seat centers on it. Don't quote me
on the numbers. I think they're about three fifty mils
or but for somebody that seat the size of mine,

(02:06):
it's a bit of a squash. Yeah, And so you
go to Eden Park, you got to F and G,
you go to four Bar, you go to any other
venue in the country, and you've got a bit of
leg room and a bit of bum room. You don't
in this place.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
So are you saying that cow bell's right in your face?

Speaker 2 (02:24):
I reckon. If you had a whole lot of people,
now that we've incited a riot, turn up with cowboys
and start waving them around, I think we're probably going
to create a rather confrontational attitude off the field, and
we actually want it to be on the field. So
I think it's probably best that people don't bring them.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Hey, did you ban so Elliott wants to know? You
know who Elliott is. Elliott wants to know if you
banned cow bells for the semi final in twenty twenty two.

Speaker 2 (02:50):
Now, I tell you what though, the Chiefs stopped us
taking them flags up there and when we played the
final in Hamilton a few years ago. So look, I
think this is all about Simon and the Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
This is oh okay, so that but hold on, So
that semi final and twenty two was in the same venue, A.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yes, yeah, But of course it wasn't an issue because
they weren't. There was a couple of cowboys got in,
but there weren't that many. And the reason there weren't
that many was because nobody has incited this, right, so
we innocently we're innocent. We're innocent here, we're innocent.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Oh well, listen, Colin, you're going to have to stick
with it now that you've started to make best of
like in best of like. Also for the game. That's
Colin Mansridge, the Crusader's CEO. For more from Hither Duplessy
Allen Drive, listen live to news talks. It'd be from
four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio