The Town Ball is Now Open
by Steve Taylor
Title
The Town Ball is Now Open
Artist
Steve Taylor
Medium
Photograph
Description
This huge rugby ball went around the world in the lead-up to the 2011 Rugby World Cup. It ended up in Christchurch as a kind of consolation prize as after all the earthquakes there was no World Cup games held here and we did become the World Champions. The 100% Pure NZ was originally black letters, but after it was bought to be the top of the Town Ball bar and restaurant, they were removed. As you can see their traces can still be seen.
The trophy is a replica of the Webb Ellis Cup. It was originally constructed out of aluminium in Christchurch. The 7m high structure weighs 1.8 tonnes and was built in two halves each of four quadrants. It nearly never got completed as the numerous earthquake aftershocks that were occurring in Christchurch at the time were not making it easy to cut the metal with a laser cutter. It appeared at the opening ceremony in Auckland.
Uploaded
July 26th, 2013
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