The Rugby World Cup kicked off in Sydney on Friday with an atmospheric ceremony featuring Aboriginal bush spirits, a fireworks spectacular and giant inflatable rugby fans.
More than 83 000 real fans turned out in blustery conditions at Sydney’s Olympic stadium, the vast majority hoping to inspire defending champions Australia against Argentina.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard joined the fiercely patriotic crowd in belting out the bush ballad Waltzing Matilda at the curtain-raiser after earlier criticising International Rugby Board (IRB) restrictions on the song.
The event took place amid Australia’s largest security operation since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, with police sniffer dogs screening the crowd as 450 counter-terrorism experts with Black Hawk helicopters were on standby nearby.
The ceremony, watched by a worldwide television audience estimated at one billion, began with a ”call to play” as dozens of drummers perched on the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House beat a tattoo in synchronisation with colleagues at the stadium 20km away.
Wallaby legend John Eales, Australia’s victorious captain at the last World Cup in 1999, took to the field followed by hundreds of schoolchildren, who then used 5km of cloth to form a giant animated rugby player scoring a try.
Next, a young boy ”inspired by Eales” sparked a fireworks display by kicking a exploding rugby ball along the stadium.
A series of Aboriginal dance sequences followed on the themes of earth, fire and water, featuring flaming bush spirits and floating water nymphs.
The Rugby World Choir, composed of two young singers from each of the 20 participating nations, then performed before Howard and officials from the IRB and Australian Rugby Union declared the fifth World Cup open.
In a light-hearted touch before the players paraded on to the pitch, 11,2m inflatable ”one-eyed rugby fans” careened around the field.
Australian soprano Deborah Cheetham and Argentinian tenor Jose Cura, backed by a 70-piece symphony orchestra, then performed the game’s signature song, World in Union, before delivering the national anthems.
Coordinator Andrew Walsh said the Aus$5-million (R24-million) ceremony was designed as a celebration of rugby’s
traditions.
”The vision of the spectacle is definitely modern, maybe a bit avant-garde but definitely not elitist,” he said.
With the one-year anniversary of the Bali bombings on Sunday, Australian players’ jerseys were embroidered with a sprig of wattle, a yellow flowering plant traditionally used for remembrance in Australia, to honour the 88 Australians who were among the 202 killed in the attack. — Sapa-AFP