As the Tournament draws to a close, we look back at some of the highlights from the opening weekend as Brighton & Hove Celebrated Rugby...

(Photo credits for this page: www.snapitnow.co.uk)

Brighton & Hove City Council organised decorations in the city for the first weekend of the Rugby. Official branded posters and banners mixed with contributions from arts charity Same Sky to add a local twist to the city's look.

Dressing the city - Same Sky's Rugby themed flags for the Clock Tower

Official branding for the Fanzone

The council organised the official Fanzone on the seafront. A big screen on the beach showed the matches played during the weekend and a range of fun activities took place along Madeira Drive. 

Activities on Madeira Drive at the Fanzone

Activities on Madeira Drive at the Fanzone

Same Sky's Rugby arch at the start of the Fanzone

The Fanzone from above

A couple of volunteers from The Pack,
6,000 volunteers were chosen to be part of the Tournament

Watching the Brave Blossoms make history with their victory over the Springboks at the first match of Rugby World Cup 2015 to take place in Brighton & Hove

Fans in the Fanzone

Fans in the Fanzone

Sunday morning saw a horse parade pass through the Fanzone

A second day of sunshine in the Fanzone

Celebrating more than Rugby!

The Webb Ellis Cup arriving at the Fanzone

Transport was co-ordinated around the city to help fans get about from Brighton station to seafront to stadium. ER2015 transport team, all local transport providers, the stadium and the council worked together to keep the city moving. 

A member of The Pack at Brighton station

A music and dance festival called Pitch Perfect was organised by the council to provide a celebratory welcome for anyone passing by and fans walking from the station to the seafront. 

Performers at Pitch Perfect

Performers at Pitch Perfect

Watching performances at Pitch Perfect

The Fanzone continued to entertain throughout Sunday

Performers in the Fanzone

Fans in the Fanzone

Fans in the Fanzone

Fans in the Fanzone

Fans in the Fanzone

Fans in the Fanzone

Performers in the Fanzone

Performers in the Fanzone

After more than two years of planning, with collaboration across many different organisations locally, nationally and internationally, the Tournament matches were played in our city. Brighton & Hove - a place of Rugby history!

Fans at the stadium! The Rugby action was amazing!

Rugby World Cup 2015 in Brighton & Hove

Rugby World Cup 2015 in Brighton & Hove

As well as all this, the city hosted the Trophy Tour and Welcome Ceremonies as well as celebrating with the Festival of Rugby and much more. 

Brighton & Hove was part of one of the largest sporting events in the world and the city rose to the occasion. Now after six weeks the final match of the Tournament is about to be played at Twickenham tomorrow. Rugby World Cup 2015 will soon draw to a close but the memories will last forever. 

View from The Pack

By Bill Hadgkiss

What a weekend for Brighton & Hove which was witness to one of the greatest upsets in Rugby World Cup history when Japan beat South Africa on Saturday 19 September.

The sun shone from a clear blue sky throughout the weekend and the Brighton Community Stadium was full on both days with supporters wearing their country's colours and waving thousands of national flags distributed by members of The Pack.

Pack members were ready at the stadium to help match goers
Photo credit: www.snapitnow.co.uk

The role myself and other Pack members were responsible for was to give our visiting spectators a memorable experience from the time they arrived in the city until their departure. 

Fans in the stadium
Photo credit: www.snapitnow.co.uk

I was fortunate in being based at the Stadium on both days and undertook a variety of functions including meet and greet fans arriving on the shuttle buses from the Fanzone and Park and Rides, distributing flags, duties at stadium entrance gates regarding bag checks and separating tickets for scanning, marshalling queues post-match into channels for the various Park and Ride departure points and helping spectators with restricted movement from arrival points to the stadium entrance.

There were several memorable moments. Two elderly gentlemen with walking sticks arrived on a Park and Ride bus because their lift to the Stadium had not turned up. They were quite anxious by they time they arrived. I was able to collect two wheelchairs from our information point and, with a colleague, take them to their seating area. I then arranged their return journey to the P & R after the match. 

Fans waved homemade banners and flags handed out by the Pack
Photo credit: www.snapitnow.co.uk

One Samoan spectator gave me a match ticket since his friend was unable to come and asked me to find a good home for it. I took it to the ticket office where it was passed to a very happy fan who was ticketless! 

Bill in the stadium gallery

As we were not needed during the match, we all watched from a gallery near to the Workforce Centre. During the final 15 minutes of the South Africa v Japan game and the scenes at the final whistle were incredible. Every neutral in the stadium were willing the Japanese to achieve the impossible...and of course they did!

There is no doubt at all the Brighton Community Stadium, their staff, Rugby World Cup 2015 and members of The Pack made this event truly memorable, this being acknowledged by many, many spectators that I spoke to after the match. I thoroughly enjoyed every single minute and the memories will last a long time!

The Pack is getting ready!

By Bill Hadgkiss

Last month I went to Twickenham, where I joined 130 other members of the Pack for a full training session in the St George's Suite situated under the East Stand.

It was a very informative morning session, interactive, as we worked in both small and larger groups to learn about and discuss the various skills we would use to give the spectators a truly memorable experience when attending Rugby World Cup 2015 matches. These skills were based around being Personal, Engaging and Proactive.

In the afternoon I joined up with other members of the Spectator Services Team to gain more about my role at Brighton which will include such activities as directing fans to the match or Fanzone from a transport hub, or city centre, assisting at the stadium by helping to prepare fans for security screening and bag search areas and directing them to the appropriate entrances to the stadium.  

Bill at the Twickenham training session

Inside the stadium, fans will be welcomed by volunteers and assistance will be given in finding seats. We also learned how to react to lost property, missing children and such requests as refreshment and toilet facilities.

Being at Twickenham for the day was a memorable experience, and everyone involved in the training is 100 per cent committed to providing the best possible experience for the spectators. I am convinced myself and other Pack members are ready to do Brighton & Hove proud!

Under 20s in Brighton

Under 20s brought Rugby to the Brighton Community Stadium for the first time.

The Brighton Community Stadium transformed in style into a Rugby venue to be proud of for the England Under 20 v France Under 20 Six Nations finale last month on 20 March. 

Photo credit: ProSportsImages

England Under 20 produced a scintillating second half performance to beat the French team 24-11, winning the Six Nations title in the process. 

The evening also saw a very happy crowd of Rugby fans who witnessed the first Rugby match to take place on the Brighton Community Stadium’s pitch.

Photo credit: ProSportsImages

The U20s game was a success in terms of ticket sales too. A total of 12,615 people filled the seats to watch the match. This is the highest amount of tickets ever sold for an England U20s Six Nations match.

One of our bloggers and member of The Pack, Bill Hadgkiss was in the crowd. Bill said: “England Under 20 clinched the Six Nation's crown with a superb second half performance to beat France. This was my first visit to the Amex. The stadium is superb with excellent facilities for the spectators and proved to be a great venue for the match. The pitch was in perfect condition and the two large screens at both ends relayed the match live together with action replays." 

Photo credit: ProSportsImages

Bill added: "Full credit also to the marshalls managing spectators’ safe exit from the ground and access to Falmer station. All this together with a great atmosphere bodes well for Brighton to host the two Rugby World Cup 2015 matches in September.”

Photo credit: ProSportsImages

The England 2015 organisers were also able to use the match as part of their testing programme and were delighted with the delivery of the stadium’s first ever rugby match ahead of the Tournament coming to the city in September. Find out more at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-C4javbqh0  

Photo credit: ProSportsImages

Balfour bloggers

Pupils from Balfour Primary Tag Rugby team were invited to Brighton Community Stadium recently to learn about how the venue will be transformed for Rugby in the months ahead.

Seven pupils took a tour of the ground and met with the Executive Director of Brighton & Hove Football Club to find out more.

In this home changing room

The trip was organised by Albion in the Community (AITC) and also involved the pupils working with the AITC team to create blog content on a set of iPads.

Their finished blog entries will be posted here soon.  

In the stands

Webb Ellis Cup in the city!

The Webb Ellis Cup visited Brighton & Hove today to mark one year to go until Rugby World Cup 2015 and the launch of this blog.  The coveted Trophy will be awarded to the winners of Rugby World Cup 2015.

The Trophy was started the day at the Community Stadium and then went to the Royal Pavilion and along the seafront, from the Pier to the Peace Statue. There was also a visit to a Hove beach hut. People stopped to see and crowds gathered wherever the Trophy appeared.

The Webb Ellis Cup started the day at the Community Stadium where two of the 48 Rugby World Cup matches will take place in September 2015.

Next stop was Brighton's Royal Pavilion. The Webb Ellis Cup was the guest of honour at a gathering of local Rugby enthusiasts who will be contributing to these pages (find out more http://ow.ly/BGVGd). 

Outside on the Royal Pavilion lawn

Inside the Royal Pavilion's beautiful Music Room

The Webb Ellis Cup then went for a trip along the seafront of Brighton & Hove. 

The sight of the trophy drew crowds stopping for photos, including the Warner family, near the pier. 

Mandy Warner has already applied for tickets for the Brighton and Milton Keynes matches, she said: "It's very exciting that the original cup is here in Brighton. It's not something I ever thought I'd see! We are looking forward to the Tournament next year". 

The Warner family

Brighton Bandstand

Hove beach huts, on the Prom

And inside one of the Hove beach huts

In the blazing sunshine, the final stop for the Webb Ellis Cup was at the border of Brighton & Hove at the Peace Statue. Players from teams at the Team Bases of Brighton College and the University of Brighton met for Rugby practice on Hove Lawns before the arrival of the famous Trophy.

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What is the Webb Ellis Cup? 

• The Webb Ellis Cup is the Trophy awarded to Rugby World Cup winners.  New Zealand's David Kirk was the first captain to lift the Webb Ellis Cup after his All Blacks defeated France 29-9 in the RWC 1987 Final.
• The Webb Ellis Cup is made from gilded silver and stands 472mm tall. It measures 319mm at its widest point handle to handle and weighs 4.5kgs.
• It was made by the Garrards silversmiths in 1906 and is based on the design of a cup believed to have been made around 1740 by English silversmith Paul de Lamerie.
• The Trophy was bought from an antique shop prior to the first Rugby World Cup and engraved with the words "The International Rugby Football Board" and "The Webb Ellis Cup".
• William Webb Ellis, after whom the Cup is named, was an Anglican clergyman born in Salford, Lancashire. Legend has it that in 1823, while he was a pupil at Rugby School, Webb Ellis picked up the ball during a game of football and ran with it, thus inventing the game of rugby.

For more information about Rugby’s greatest prize visit: http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/home/news/newsid=2061379.html