After what seems decades of anticipation, the Rugby World Cup is upon us. Whether we are fans or not, the fact that it is taking place will be impossible to ignore.
We don’t care who wins – so long as it is New Zealand !
80 nations took part in 184 qualifying games spread over 2½ years for the right to attend the tournament. For Russia, this is their first appearance, for some teams this is their seventh world cup.
Spread over 6 weeks and 13 cities, 20 teams will play 48 matches culminating with the final in Auckland on 23 October.
|
 |
|
|
Congratulations to the winners of our recent ‘stamp hunt’. We were amazed how resourceful members were,
in finding stamps to represent sports competed for at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. We enjoyed looking through the entries,
but did have a chuckle at times, China, Japan and even the USA featured as Commonwealth countries !
This year’s Kiwi Stamp Circuit CAL features Rugby, being released on 9th September, the tournament opening day. As with our previous CALs, the artwork is by Alistair Burns.
The CALs were printed by NZPost in sheets of 50 (5 x 10), with a limited print run of 1500.
The year of issue, 2011, shows vertically in small letters at the bottom left of the CAL.
Before printing, a requirement of NZPost was that NZRFU viewed our design, to certify
‘that it does not breach any Rugby World Cup trademarks’.
|
|
In the last few years, we have had a dozen different stamp designs, miniature sheets, limited editions, personalized stamps, as well as numerous coins issued on behalf of the Reserve Bank ~ all for the Rugby World Cup.
No one can blame NZPost for doing its best to make the most of Rugby World Cup, after all it will probably be 20 years before they get such an opportunity again. However the 3D stamp issued this week, with a face value of $15 can only be described as philatelic exploitation. Sold in a sealed plastic case, it is clearly not intended for postal use.
|
Editor’s Comment:
We accept that someone who pays $800 for a gold coin, buys it as a collectible and has no intention of using it to pay for an ice-cream. Stamps are different, they are designed to prepay for postage and collectors aim to obtain one of every issue. As NZPost does not encourage stamps on parcels these days, we wonder, to where would we post a $15 letter ?
I will probably buy one for my collection of Rugby on Stamps, but will not feel it necessary to include one in my New Zealand collection
|
