Canterbury Police encouraged by the positive crowd behaviour at the first ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 match held at Hagley Oval"

Canterbury Police were proud of the positive behaviour of the majority of the crowd at today’s first match of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 which was held in the expanded Hagley Oval in Christchurch City. Cricket fans from New Zealand and overseas enjoyed the family atmosphere at the venue and many praised the work of the officers on duty today.

Canterbury Police’s Operational Commander for the ICC Cricket World Cup, Inspector Bryan Buck, said “There was a great family atmosphere at the venue today with a crowd of 17,500 people. Disappointingly the only arrests that were made today followed two pitch invasions towards the end of the match. Pitch invasions are offensive to communities in New Zealand and overseas and will not be tolerated by Police under any circumstances.”

The two pitch invaders, a 26 year old man and a 23 year old man, will appear in Christchurch District Court on 17 February 2015 charged under the Major Events Management Act for pitch invasion. If convicted the penalty includes of a fine of up to $5000 or imprisonment of up to three months.

Canterbury Police evicted several people from the venue.

“A total of 14 people were evicted and trespassed for the day due to intoxication and inappropriate behaviour which is low in comparison to the crowd size. We would challenge the crowd for next week’s game to take that number of alcohol related incidents down to zero by drinking responsibly and eating food and drinking water throughout the day” explained Inspector Buck

Canterbury Police will continue to actively Police the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 games to ensure it is a safe and secure environment that is enjoyable for all.

Canterbury – let’s keep making the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 one to remember for all the right reasons.

Media please note – there will be no interviews regarding this release over the weekend.

ENDS

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