I was in my 2^nd week of traveling around the south island of New Zealand.  Many, many hostels, many, many lovely sights before we arrived at the Leviathan Hotel in Dunedin.  It was pot luck really, driving up from the Catalins in the far south both myself any my traveling partner, Neil, hadn’t a detailed tourist guide between us.  Having explored the Otago peninsula we arrived into town and spotted the Leviathan on the left..  We passed it, didn’t like the look of it, drove on, hadn’t a clue where we were going, turned around and checked in.  And we were very glad we did as we had a fun filled three days in Dunedin, which was two days longer than we planned.

One major reason we spent a bit of extra time in this Scottish settlement town was the fact that we bumped into the unforgettable Hori BOP!!  I remember passing through the lobby of the Hotel and seeing Hori check in.  I remember thinking he’s a colourful character, and he wasn’t even in his blue and yellow get up!!!

Later, I joined my mate in the TV room just as Hori BOP was parting his company.   They’d got chatting and Hori had promised tickets for the big match the next day – BOP v Otago in the ‘Stadium of Pain’.  I’m a huge rugby fan, I support Munster and Ireland. When Neil asked if it was ok for us to hang around an extra day for the rugby, I was over the moon.

We met Hori the next day in the bar at the Leviathan, and like any good celebrity he was fashionably late… but we still had enough time to don the blue and yellow face paint.  I’m particularly proud of these holiday photos as I’m from Tipperary in Ireland and the county colours are exactly the same as the BOP blue and yellow.  So it look’s like I was being very patriotic abroad.  Truth betold I was supporting the unknown.  But we had a fantastic guide.

Arriving at the ground with Hori was the closest I’ve come to celebrity….. I was holding his big stick!!!! And still can’t believe we were allowed into the ground with such weaponry!!  Being a rugby fan I know the atmosphere at the games can be electric but this was exceptional.  Hori got a huge greeting from the twenty or so BOP fans there. (Ok maybe there was a few more than that!!)  We were allowed to circumnavigate the ground as we pleased…. Hori BOP with three tourists and several dozen children in tow….. he was like the pied piper!!!!  I soon began to realize as the game went on that I probably wasn’t supporting the strongest team in the county but was definitely amongst the best supporters I’d ever met.  (Otago were also blue and yellow and shouting ‘Steamers’ followed by ‘Otago’ and then throwing ‘Tipperary’ in for good measure was a very entertaining way of confusing the local kids)

Being a celebrity, it appears that Hori can almost work miracles!!!  Not fancying the long walk back to the hotel he approached a couple of local cops who didn’t manage to start their engine up quite quick enough and before I knew it we were being taxied back to the hotel in the back of a squad car – beats the usual crush on the trains and buses!!

The Ran Furly shield was a week later and although Neil and myself were scheduled to be up in Nelson we decided we’d drive down to Christchurch for the big occasion, now that we pledged our allegiance, it would have been rude not too.   Here Hori BOP’s stories of many passionate fans came true.  We walked into the Hilton and felt under dressed against a huge backdrop of blue and yellow.  The mafia had arrived!!

I got introduced to a bar room full of people by the extrovert Hori BOP and me being the shy retiring character that I am could only stand and nod at the sea of blue and yellow in front of me. 

As the day progressed we got to know some of the characters behind the mafia.  Worryingly, most of them are British!!!  Actually, it’s quite admirable the array of different characters behind the team.  Many dedicated fans….. one even traveling from Sydney for the big occasion!

Unfortunately, it wasn’t BOP’s weekend.  It would have been great if they’d won but it didn’t diminish from the fun I’d got from meeting Hori BOP and the BOP mafia. 

I traveled to NZ for a holiday of four weeks and expected to come away with great stories of snow capped mountainous peaks, spectaculars fiords and the odd piss up.  Instead, my outstanding story of the holiday is that of meeting the infamous, but gentlemanly Hori BOP and the army of dedicated mafia that follow BOP.  It says a lot that I spent four weeks on the south island, never went to the north island, and managed to come away a BOP fan!!!!!!