{"id":15482,"date":"2015-05-22T17:15:06","date_gmt":"2015-05-22T22:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=15482"},"modified":"2015-05-22T17:15:06","modified_gmt":"2015-05-22T22:15:06","slug":"video-wallabies-to-run-on-soldier-field","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-wallabies-to-run-on-soldier-field\/","title":{"rendered":"VIDEO: Wallabies to run on Soldier Field"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Brian MacIver<\/p>\n<p>Justin Biggs remembers the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.allblacks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">All Blacks<\/a> November visit to Chicago.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEuphoria. Everyone knew this was the first time in a very long time that this had happened. It was just a buzzing. Everyone singing, dancing, having a few drinks. Just having a genuinely good time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Australian consulate employee will get to chance to cheer on his home country\u2019s rugby team as the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.rugby.com.au\/wallabies\/Home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Australian Wallabies<\/a>, one of the world\u2019s best rugby clubs, will come to Soldier Field on Sept. 5 to play the USA Eagles.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"USA Rugby - Brian MacIver EDITED FINAL\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/128536989?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The news came out on May 12 during a press conference at the Soldier Field. Representatives from both teams and another from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.choosechicago.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Choose Chicago<\/a>, the city\u2019s privately run tourism organization, came together for the announcement.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re one of the fastest growing team sport in the country,\u201d said USA Rugby CEO Nigel Melville. He said he hopes to see the same anecdotal local impact on the sport that was seen after last year\u2019s game versus New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe did get a lot of positives from this particular area in the growth of the Illinois youth rugby, for example, and the programs locally. More teams are looking at rugby a little more seriously than in the past,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>This match is not just a good thing for the sport in the country. According to Michael Wood, the Australian consul general in Chicago (and the boss of Biggs), this event is also great for the Australian ex-pat community in America.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOh, this is a tremendous event for Australians in Chicago and the States. The last time the Wallabies played on U.S. soil was almost 40 years ago in Anaheim. So fans have been waiting a long time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Biggs is going to be one of those Australians attending the game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s phenomenal. You know, having the All Blacks was fantastic \u2018cause they\u2019re close to our shores. But to have the Wallabies is just outstanding. It\u2019s going to be fantastic,<strong>\u201d <\/strong>Biggs said.<\/p>\n<p>Kara Bachman, the executive director at the Chicago Sports Commission, a branch of Choose Chicago \u2013 the private tourism arm of Chicago tourism &#8212; said last November\u2019s All Blacks game was great for Chicago\u2019s hotel industry, which broke seasonal records in bookings and revenue.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe beat leisure travel that week by over 30 percent,\u201d she said. \u201cThat was a record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She expects the same kind of tourism boost when Aussies flood Chicago streets.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe All Blacks was a great success all around. You could see it and you could feel it in the city. I think we\u2019ll see similar [results] with Australia. Especially being en route to the World Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This game is going to be one of the final preparation games for both teams leading into the Rugby World Cup. The tournament begins Sept. 17 and will last through the end of October in England.<\/p>\n<div id=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: Chicago will once again host one of the world&#8217;s best rugby clubs when the Australian Wallabies come to Soldier Field on Sept. 5 to play the USA Eagles. (Australia national rugby union team\/Courtesy)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Brian MacIver Justin Biggs remembers the All Blacks November visit to Chicago. \u201cEuphoria. Everyone knew this was the first time in a very long time that this had happened. It was just a buzzing. Everyone singing, dancing, having a few drinks. Just having a genuinely good time.\u201d The Australian consulate employee will get to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":15487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,436],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","category-spring-2015"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>VIDEO: Wallabies to run on Soldier Field - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/video-wallabies-to-run-on-soldier-field\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VIDEO: Wallabies to run on Soldier Field - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Brian MacIver Justin Biggs remembers the All Blacks November visit to Chicago. \u201cEuphoria. Everyone knew this was the first time in a very long time that this had happened. It was just a buzzing. Everyone singing, dancing, having a few drinks. 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