Waimea Weekly
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Wednesday 1 July 2015
Cycle trail officially opened
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hil’s Place P
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Buffet at its Best
at Club Waimea
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Waimea not All Blacks, yet
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Referee quits after online abuse Andrew Board
Nelson sporting clubs are being warned about what they post on social media after a Nelson football referee quit the game as a result of online abuse. The referee sent a Richmond Athletic player off in a first division game earlier this month for alleged dangerous play. He rescinded the red card on the Monday following the game, meaning the player would not be suspended for the next game. But the Richmond club then took to its of-
fined in the future. ficial Facebook page, accusing the region’s referees of conspiring to “Clubs need to be extremely carecheat. ful about whether they want the Those posts attracted other comgame to be run properly in a small district like Nelson, where being ments from club members and as harassed like this online can affect a result the referee quit the game. The comments have since been things in a referee’s life outside of Clive removed and the club has apolofootball.” Beaumont. Tasman Rugby Union referee boss gised. Nelson Bays Football general manager Nigel Jones says a similar thing happened Clive Beaumont says no referee should be to a rugby referee last season. He says a treated in such a way that he feels like he phone call was immediately made to the can’t referee anymore and clubs may be club, the post was withdrawn and a meet-
David MacGibbon, son James, 8, and daughter Kate, 5, at the St Arnaud ice skating pond. Photo: Jacob Chandler.
ing was held with the person who wrote the post, ensuring it didn’t happen again. “It’s totally inappropriate and contrary to sporting spirit. We’ve seen nationally that abuse of referees is dealt with fairly harshly and so it should be.” Internet safety expert John Parsons says club’s need to develop a social media policy or risk damaging their brand. “Organisations can spend a lot of time developing their brand and their reputation, which
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Snow and ice bring winter fun The winter cold has arrived, but so has the winter fun. Last week, the ice-skating pond at St Arnaud was frozen enough for locals to dust off their skates and this weekend Rainbow Ski Area will open for the winter. The ice skating pond, located two minutes down the road from St Arnaud Village, has already proven popular with both professional ice skaters and families. Hamish Simpson, operator of the Rotoiti Water Taxi, has been hiring out skates for the first time, after purchasing the business earlier this year to keep him busy in the off-season. He says he has to check the pond each morning by making sure his foot won’t go
through the ice if he stomps on it. “It can be a little bit fickle with the pond. Sometimes it’s skateable, sometimes it’s not. You’ve got to be onto it and check it every day,” he says. Rainbow marketing and events coordinator, Georgie Tudor-Jones, says the ski field is looking in fantastic shape for opening day, this Saturday. “We extended our snow making to the top, last year it was only up to tower six. Even if we don’t have enough natural snow we’re going to have manmade snow right from the top from day one,” she says. To see a video on this story, visit
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