title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: Alvarez proposed Muon tomography in 1965 to search the Egyptian pyramids for unknown chambers. Using naturally occurring cosmic rays, his plan was to place spark chambers, standard equipment in the high-energy particle physics of this time, beneath the Pyramid of Khafre in a known chamber. By measuring the counting rate of the cosmic rays in different directions the detector would reveal the existence of any void in the overlaying rock structure.


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: Alvarez assembled a team of physicists and archeologists from the United States and Egypt, the recording equipment was constructed and the experiment carried out, though it was interrupted by the 1967 Six-Day War. Restarted after the war, the effort continued, recording and analyzing the penetrating cosmic rays until 1969 when he reported to the American Physical Society that no chambers had been found in the 19% of the pyramid surveyed.


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: In November 1966 "Life" published a series of photographs from the film that Abraham Zapruder took of the Kennedy assassination. Alvarez, an expert in optics and photoanalysis, became intrigued by the pictures and began to study what could be learned from the film. Alvarez demonstrated both in theory and experiment that the backward snap of the President's head was consistent with his being shot from behind being called the "jet-effect" theory. Prominent conspiracy theorists attempted to refute his experiment – see Last Second in Dallas by Josiah Thompson, however, doctor Nicholas Nalli, Ph.D supports Alvarez's theory which is consistent with a shot from behind. He also investigated the timing of the gunshots and the shockwave which disturbed the camera, and the speed of the camera, pointing out a number of things which the FBI photo analysts either overlooked or got wrong. He produced a paper intended as a tutorial, with informal advice for the physicist intent on arriving at the truth.


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: In 1980 Alvarez and his son, geologist Walter Alvarez, along with nuclear chemists Frank Asaro and Helen Michel, "uncovered a calamity that literally shook the Earth and is one of the great discoveries about Earth's history".


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: During the 1970s, Walter Alvarez was doing geologic research in central Italy. There he had located an outcrop on the walls of a gorge whose limestone layers included strata both above and below the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. Exactly at the boundary is a thin layer of clay. Walter told his father that the layer marked where the dinosaurs and much else became extinct and that nobody knew why, or what the clay was about—it was a big mystery and he intended, to solve it.


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: Alvarez had access to the nuclear chemists at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory and was able to work with Frank Asaro and Helen Michel, who used the technique of neutron activation analysis. In 1980, Alvarez, Alvarez, Asaro, and Michel published a seminal paper proposing an extraterrestrial cause for the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction (then called the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction). In the years following the publication of their article, the clay was also found to contain soot, glassy spherules, shocked quartz crystals, microscopic diamonds, and rare minerals formed only under conditions of great temperature and pressure.


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: Publication of the 1980 paper brought criticism from the geologic community, and an often acrimonious scientific debate ensued. Ten years later, and after Alvarez's death, evidence of a large impact crater called Chicxulub was found off the coast of Mexico, providing support for the theory. Other researchers later found that the end-Cretaceous extinction of the dinosaurs may have occurred rapidly in geologic terms, over thousands of years, rather than millions of years as had previously been supposed. Others continue to study alternative extinction causes such as increased volcanism, particularly the massive Deccan Traps eruptions that occurred around the same time, and climate change, checking against the fossil record. However, on March 4, 2010, a panel of 41 scientists agreed that the Chicxulub asteroid impact triggered the mass extinction.


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: In his autobiography, Alvarez said, "I think of myself as having had two separate careers, one in science and one in aviation. I've found the two almost equally rewarding." An important contributor to this was his enjoyment of flying. He learned to fly in 1933, later earning instrument and multi-engine ratings. Over the next 50 years he accumulated over 1000 hours of flight time, most of it as pilot in command. He said, "I found few activities as satisfying as being pilot in command with responsibility for my passengers' lives."


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: Alvarez made numerous professional contributions to aviation. During World War II he led the development of multiple aviation-related technologies. Several of his projects are described above, including Ground Controlled Approach (GCA) for which he was awarded the Collier Trophy in 1945. He also held the basic patent for the radar transponder, for which he assigned rights to the U.S. government for $1.


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: Later in his career Alvarez served on multiple high level advisory committees related to civilian and military aviation. These included a Federal Aviation Administration task group on future air navigation and air traffic control systems, the President's Science Advisory Committee Military Aircraft Panel, and a committee studying how the scientific community could help improve the United States' capabilities for fighting a nonnuclear war.


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: Alvarez's aviation responsibilities led to many adventures. For example, while working on GCA he became the first civilian to fly a low approach with his view outside the cockpit obstructed. He also flew many military aircraft from the co-pilot's seat, including a B-29 Superfortress and a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. In addition, he survived a crash during World War II as a passenger in a Miles Master.


title: Luis Walter Alvarez

text: Alvarez died on September 1, 1988, of complications from a succession of recent operations for esophageal cancer. His remains were cremated, and his ashes were scattered over Monterey Bay. His papers are in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: Refractoriness is the fundamental property of any object of autowave nature (especially excitable medium) not to respond on stimuli, if the object stays in the specific "refractory state". In common sense, refractory period is the characteristic recovery time, a period that is associated with the motion of the image point on the left branch of the isocline formula_1 (for more details, see also Reaction–diffusion and Parabolic partial differential equation).


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: In physiology, a refractory period is a period of time during which an organ or cell is incapable of repeating a particular action, or (more precisely) the amount of time it takes for an excitable membrane to be ready for a second stimulus once it returns to its resting state following an excitation. It most commonly refers to electrically excitable muscle cells or neurons. Absolute refractory period corresponds to depolarization and repolarization, whereas relative refractory period corresponds to hyperpolarization.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: The absolute refractory period coincides with nearly the entire duration of the action potential. In neurons, it is caused by the inactivation of the Na channels that originally opened to depolarize the membrane. These channels remain inactivated until the membrane hyperpolarizes. The channels then close, de-inactivate, and regain their ability to open in response to stimulus.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: The relative refractory period immediately follows the absolute. As voltage-gated potassium channels open to terminate the action potential by repolarizing the membrane, the potassium conductance of the membrane increases dramatically. K ions moving out of the cell bring the membrane potential closer to the equilibrium potential for potassium. This causes brief hyperpolarization of the membrane, that is, the membrane potential becomes transiently more negative than the normal resting potential. Until the potassium conductance returns to the resting value, a greater stimulus will be required to reach the initiation threshold for a second depolarization. The return to the equilibrium resting potential marks the end of the relative refractory period.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: The "refractory period" in cardiac physiology is related to the ion currents that, in cardiac cells as in nerve cells, flow into and out of the cell freely. The flow of ions translates into a change in the voltage of the inside of the cell relative to the extracellular space. As in nerve cells, this characteristic change in voltage is referred to as an action potential. Unlike that in nerve cells, the cardiac action potential duration is closer to 100 ms (with variations depending on cell type, autonomic tone, etc.). After an action potential initiates, the cardiac cell is unable to initiate another action potential for some duration of time (which is slightly shorter than the "true" action potential duration). This period of time is referred to as the refractory period, which is 250ms in duration and helps to protect the heart.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: In the classical sense, the cardiac refractory period is separated into an absolute refractory period and a relative refractory period. During the absolute refractory period, a new action potential cannot be elicited. During the relative refractory period, a new action potential can be elicited under the correct circumstances.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: The cardiac refractory period can result in different forms of "re-entry", which are a cause of tachycardia. Vortices of excitation in the myocardium (autowave vortices) are a form of "re-entry". Such vortices can be a mechanism of life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias. In particular, the autowave reverberator, more commonly referred to as spiral waves or rotors, can be found within the atria and may be a cause of atrial fibrillation.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: The refractory period in a neuron occurs after an action potential and generally lasts one millisecond. An action potential consists of three phases.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: Phase one is depolarization. During depolarization, voltage-gated sodium ion channels open, increasing the neuron's membrane conductance for sodium ions and depolarizing the cell's membrane potential (from typically -70 mV toward a positive potential). In other words, the membrane is made less negative. After the potential reaches the activation threshold (-55 mV), the depolarization is actively driven by the neuron and overshoots the equilibrium potential of an activated membrane (+30 mV).


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: Phase two is repolarization. During repolarization, voltage-gated sodium ion channels inactivate (different from the closed state) due to the now-depolarized membrane, and voltage-gated potassium channels activate (open). Both the inactivation of the sodium ion channels and the opening of the potassium ion channels act to repolarize the cell's membrane potential back to its resting membrane potential.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: When the cell's membrane voltage overshoots its resting membrane potential (near -60 mV), the cell enters a phase of hyperpolarization. This is due to a larger-than-resting potassium conductance across the cell membrane. This potassium conductance eventually drops and the cell returns to its resting membrane potential.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: Recent research has shown that neuronal refractory periods can exceed 20 milliseconds. Furthermore, the relation between hyperpolarization and the neuronal refractory was questioned, as neuronal refractory periods were observed for neurons that do not exhibit hyperpolarization. The neuronal refractory period was shown to be dependent on the origin of the input signal to the neuron, as well as the preceding spiking activity of the neuron.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: The refractory periods are due to the inactivation property of voltage-gated sodium channels and the lag of potassium channels in closing. Voltage-gated sodium channels have two gating mechanisms, the activation mechanism that opens the channel with depolarization and the inactivation mechanism that closes the channel with repolarization. While the channel is in the inactive state, it will not open in response to depolarization. The period when the majority of sodium channels remain in the inactive state is the absolute refractory period. After this period, there are enough voltage-activated sodium channels in the closed (active) state to respond to depolarization. However, voltage-gated potassium channels that opened in response to repolarization do not close as quickly as voltage-gated sodium channels; to return to the active closed state. During this time, the extra potassium conductance means that the membrane is at a higher threshold and will require a greater stimulus to cause action potentials to fire. In other words, because the membrane potential inside the axon becomes increasingly negative relative to the outside of the membrane, a stronger stimulus will be required to reach the threshold voltage, and thus, initiate another action potential. This period is the relative refractory period.


title: Refractory period (physiology)

text: The muscle action potential lasts roughly 2–4 ms and the absolute refractory period is roughly 1–3 ms, shorter than other cells.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Wests Tigers are an Australian professional rugby league football team, based in the Inner West and South West Sydney. They have competed in the National Rugby League since being formed at the end of the 1999 NRL season as a joint-venture club between the Balmain Tigers and the Western Suburbs Magpies.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Wests Tigers started playing in the 2000 NRL season and they won their maiden premiership in 2005. It is one of only two clubs (the other being the Newcastle Knights) that has never lost a Grand Final in which it has participated. The club also won the World Sevens in 2004.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Wests Tigers play home games at three grounds: Leichhardt Oval (the home ground of Balmain), Campbelltown Stadium (the home ground of Western Suburbs) and Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta as of 2019, where they have committed to playing four games a year. They are currently coached by Tim Sheens. The club CEO is Justin Pascoe.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In Australia, the game of rugby league began in 1908; the New South Wales Rugby League premiership (NSWRL) had nine teams from the Sydney area. Two of those teams were clubs based in Balmain and the Western Suburbs who happened to meet each other in round 1 of 1908. Balmain won, 24 to 0. The Balmain club, who later adopted a Tiger as their emblem, in their tenure in the NSWRL won eleven premierships in twenty grand finals and was one of the forces in the NSWRL competition. However their last premiership success was in 1969 and in the 1990s with many new clubs being established, there was pressure on clubs to perform to survive in the first grade competition in Australia. The name Wests Tigers is derived from the nickname of the Western Suburbs Magpies and the mascot, a tiger, which was also the mascot of Balmain.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Western Suburbs club won four premierships in twelve grand finals over the tenure of the NSWRL competition. The Western Suburbs Magpies, like the Balmain Tigers, had a dismal 1990s winning rate, and again there was pressure on the foundation clubs to perform. The NSWRL competition was replaced by the Australian Rugby League competition (ARL) in 1995 due to the expansion of rugby league within Australia.


title: Wests Tigers

text: With a media-driven rival competition being set up, the pressure was for clubs to survive and preserve their short-term future. Both the Magpies and the Tigers signed with the ARL, whereas eight clubs of the 1995 ARL competition signed with the rival Super League competition for 1997. In 1998, the ARL and Super League were unified into a National Rugby League (NRL) competition. As part of the deal with the ARL and Super League, the NRL competition reduced to fourteen teams in 2000 from the twenty two that had competition in both competitions in 1997. With the addition of a team in 1998, this meant that nine teams would be forced out before the 2000 season.


title: Wests Tigers

text: With the NRL offering guaranteed entrance into the 2000 competition and A$6 million funding for clubs that merged, many clubs that were struggling to compete negotiated to merge. Balmain had garnered interest to merge with the Parramatta Eels and Gold Coast Chargers while Western Suburbs had talked with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Penrith Panthers. Both Balmain and Western Suburbs felt that those offers were seen more as takeovers of their clubs rather than mergers. By June 1999, both clubs' boards had unanimously voted to form a joint-venture partnership with each other to make a competitive entity.


title: Wests Tigers

text: One hundred shares were issued to Balmain Tigers Rugby League Football Club and 100 shares were issued to Western Suburbs Rugby League Football Group Pty Limited as a 50/50-owned joint venture. Due to Western Suburbs's record-breaking dismal season in 1999, they supplied just six of the twenty-five players to the new joint venture. A board of directors was appointed with five sourced from Balmain, five sourced from Western Suburbs, with a rotating chairman serving a one-year appointment. The inaugural chairman of the joint venture was John Chalk, who was previously involved with Balmain Tigers, and Steve Noyce was appointed CEO


title: Wests Tigers

text: Balmain coach Wayne Pearce was the initial coach of the Wests Tigers and new recruit Jarrod McCracken was named captain. Before the first round, the Tigers were denied a place in the double header at Stadium Australia. The debut match for the team was therefore held at Campbelltown, against eventual premiers the Brisbane Broncos, where after leading 18–6 the team snatched a 24-all draw after falling behind late in the game. John Skandalis scored the Tigers' first ever try.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Tigers surprised many by maintaining a high place on the ladder for most of the year (often in second place). Losses to the Penrith Panthers (after leading 31–8) and in the snow against the Canberra Raiders combined with injuries to key players saw the Tigers slide out of the top eight.


title: Wests Tigers

text: A highlight of their first season is that Wests' Joel Caine claimed the 2000 NRL season's top point-scorer spot.


title: Wests Tigers

text: 2001 was a tough season for the joint venture club, including off-field incidents. After Wayne Pearce announced he would no longer coach the team, Terry Lamb was appointed to the position. This was a controversial selection because of animosity from Balmain supporters due to an incident involving Ellery Hanley in the 1988 Grand Final (see Terry Lamb entry for more information).


title: Wests Tigers

text: Early in the season, key players Craig Field and Kevin McGuinness tested positive to prohibited drugs and both received a one-year suspension. Field was the team's halfback and playmaker while McGuinness was a leading try scorer for the club.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Later in the season another big name player was suspended: John Hopoate earned worldwide notoriety when he was charged with inserting his finger into the anus (pushing the players' shorts) of opposition players. Hopoate quit the club and received a long suspension. Lamb was criticised for seeming to condone the activity.


title: Wests Tigers

text: During the season the club announced Terry Lamb would not have his contract renewed. The team struggled near the foot of the ladder and only a large victory over Souths moved them clear of the wooden spoon position.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The coaching job for 2003 was offered to (and rejected by) both Craig Bellamy and Ian Millward before Tim Sheens was selected. The selection was by no means seen as a positive move by the media as Sheens' most recent coaching stint had seen him sacked by the North Queensland Cowboys.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The 2003 season was notable for the emergence of new young players through the team as the club moved away from the era of big names and big money signings and focused on developing junior talent. Most notably Benji Marshall, then a schoolboy prodigy with no senior league experience, made his debut against the Newcastle Knights.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Tigers improved greatly in 2004 with provided help by signings of players such as Brett Hodgson and Pat Richards who began to blend well with the younger players emerging as talents. The Tigers narrowly missed the playoffs after losing their final three games when a single victory would have guaranteed finals football for the first time.


title: Wests Tigers

text: 2005 was arguably the Wests Tigers' best season as of their foundation, as they not only made it to the finals for the first time, but also reached the top four in the round robin part of the competition, setting crowd attendance records at three different grounds: Campbelltown Stadium (20,527), Telstra Stadium (29,542) and Leichhardt Oval (22,877).


title: Wests Tigers

text: After a slow start, bookmakers rated the Tigers a 150–1 chance to win the premiership. However the club emerged from the bottom half of the table to win a club-record eight in a row before finishing fourth. The team developed a reputation as a flamboyant attacking team who played at a rapid pace to compensate a lack of forward size.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Tigers played their first ever final as a joint venture club at Telstra Stadium against North Queensland Cowboys. Backed by a passionate crowd the team won 50–6. They then beat the Brisbane Broncos 34–6 and premiership favourites St. George Illawarra Dragons 20–12 to book a spot against North Queensland.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Based on their winning form (they had won 11 of their last 13) and their big win over the Cowboys in the opening finals game, the Wests Tigers were rated favourites to win the 2005 grand final. After a slow start, Bryce Gibbs and Pat Richards scored tries to give the Tigers a 12–6 lead. The Richards try was ranked the second best try of all time in the NRL's Centenary of Rugby League 100 Hot Tries survey. The try was started by five-eighth Benji Marshall, who received the ball from Brett Hodgson (after receiving a down field kick) 98 metres from the opposition tryline. He beat Cowboys five-eighth Johnathan Thurston and Matt Sing. Marshall then ran 60 metres, only to be caught by Cowboys fullback Matt Bowen. He made a flick pass to Pat Richards behind his back, who then fended off Rod Jensen to score.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In the second half the Tigers gained control with tries to Anthony Laffranchi and Daniel Fitzhenry. After withstanding a Cowboys fightback, a Todd Payten try on full-time sealed a 30–16 win. Captain Scott Prince was awarded the Clive Churchill Medal for 2005.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The premiership victory meant that the club joined an exclusive group that won premierships in their first finals appearance, which had not been achieved in almost 100 years. The group also includes Souths in 1908 and Newtown in 1910.


title: Wests Tigers

text: At the end of the 2005 season, Wests also signed Malaysian car manufacturer Proton as its major new sponsor on a contract estimated to be worth more than $1 million.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Following the premiership win several key players left the club. From the grand final team, Mark O'Neill, and Pat Richards signed with English clubs (Leeds Rhinos and Wigan Warriors respectively). New signings included Jamaal Lolesi (Bulldogs), Keith Galloway (Cronulla Sharks) and Ryan O'Hara (Canberra Raiders).


title: Wests Tigers

text: As defending premiers, the Wests Tigers began the season by travelling to England to play English Super League champions the Bradford Bulls. Missing many of their star players, the Tigers tried hard but were eventually beaten 10–30. After a come from behind win over competition heavyweights St George-Illawarra, the team struggled with injuries to key players. Most notably Benji Marshall and Brett Hodgson missed large portions of the season. The team suffered a number of narrow losses late in games and also two golden point (extra time) matches in controversial circumstances.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Wests Tigers narrowly missed the finals and the chance to defend their title. One highlight of the season was the debut of several players including Chris Lawrence and the emergence of up and coming players such as Dean Collis. Brett Hodgson played for the New South Wales team in the interstate State of Origin series in all three games. Another highlight was an upset win over eventual premiers the Brisbane Broncos at Suncorp Stadium where a second-string Tigers team missing Hodgson, Marshall, Whatuira and Gibbs beat the more experienced Broncos 20–6.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Joining the club for the 2007 season was John Morris (ex Parramatta Eels) to replace Scott Prince who signed with the Gold Coast Titans. Other players to leave at the end of the 2006 season were John Skandalis, Anthony Laffranchi and Shane Elford – all members of the 2005 grand final team.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Wests Tigers had a bad start to the season losing their opening four games by narrow margins. They then had a six-game winning streak to move into the top four. The Tigers' five-eighth Benji Marshall and full-back Brett Hodgson missed the majority of the season with injuries.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Wests Tigers ended their attempt at a finals berth and finished the season on a loss to the Newcastle Knights, 26–24, at the then-Telstra Stadium.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The following two seasons ended in the same fashion with the Tigers missing out on the finals narrowly in 2008 and 2009 finishing 10th and 9th.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In February 2008, the Wests Tigers announced the extension of Benji Marshall's contract by one year, to the end of 2009. They also announced the signing of Gareth Ellis, the Leeds Rhinos second-rower and international representative, to a three-year deal commencing in 2009.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On an administrative level, in April 2008, CEO Steve Noyce announced he was standing down from his role and was eventually replaced by Scott Longmuir at the end of the 2008 season.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Following the appointment of Scott Longmuir as CEO, there were rumours that Scott and then coach Sheens did not see eye to eye. Longmuir was aligned with then chair of the board Kevin Hammond (from the Wests side of the JV) in wanting Sheens to focus on the football, and for the office of the CEO to run the club as a business. At the time the financial backing from the three leagues clubs was very minimal, and Longmuir attempted to modernise the management of the club. However, with a majority of the board backing Sheens, Longmuir was eventually removed from his role in April 2009.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On 14 April 2009, Tim Camiler (CEO Balmain Leagues Club) and Andy Timbs (General Manager Wests Ashfield Leagues Club) were appointed temporary joint CEO's of the football club


title: Wests Tigers

text: In June 2009, Stephen Humphreys was announced as the new CEO, beginning his role in July. Humphreys was a lifelong Balmain Tigers fan, with the appointment brokered by ex-Balmain player, Benny Elias. His first major decision was to ensure continuity on the pitch, maintaining Tim Sheens as Head Coach of the football club.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In February 2010, the Wests Tigers announced the signing of former Rugby Union star Lote Tuqiri for three years, and the signing of Benji Marshall for a further five.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In 2010 the club finished third in the minor premiership competition, narrowly missing out on a grand final spot after losing to eventual premiers St. George Illawarra Dragons in the preliminary final by one point.


title: Wests Tigers

text: At the end of 2010, it was announced that Meriton had signed a 2-year agreement to become major shirt and club sponsor for the 2011 and 2012 season. This placed the large M logo on the Wests Tigers redesigned shirts for 2 years


title: Wests Tigers

text: 2011 was another successful season with the Tigers finishing 4th and making the semi finals yet again, where they were defeated by a late try to the New Zealand Warriors in a loss.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Despite being backed as premiership favourites at the start of the season, the Tigers failed to qualify for the finals in the 2012 season finishing 10th.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On 25 September 2012, in a press conference CEO Stephen Humphreys and Chairman Dave Trodden announced that Tim Sheens would not be the head coach in 2013 in a restructuring of the club. This came a week after the loss of long-term players Beau Ryan and Chris Heighington to the Cronulla Sharks for the 2013 season, and a poor 2012 season on the field. Heighington had one year on his contract left while a handshake deal with Ryan had been made back in February.


title: Wests Tigers

text: At the end of the 2012 season, Mick Potter was given the head coaching job on a two-year deal to help rebuild the club.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Success was far from achieved with the Tigers missing out on the finals in the 2013 and 2014 seasons finishing 15th and 13th respectively.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In further upheaval at the club, CEO Stephen Humphreys stepped down from his role in May 2013, with continued boardroom issues cited as a major factor.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In June 2013 Wests Campbelltown sold their shares in the joint venture to Wests Ashfield Leagues, and pulled out of the joint venture. This sale left Balmain Leagues Club and Wests Ashfield Leagues club with 100 shares each in the joint venture


title: Wests Tigers

text: During this period Benji Marshall announced his decision to leave the club at the end of 2013, and signed a deal to play rugby union in New Zealand


title: Wests Tigers

text: The 2014 season was another poor season for the Wests Tigers and there was growing unrest from the club and fans about the results under Mick Potter.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Subsequently, following a mid year and end review by Meyer, Mick Potter did not have his coaching contract renewed, with the club issuing a press release confirming his release in September 2014. Potter finished his tenure at the club with a record of 17 wins and 31 losses.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In September 2014, with the ongoing financial troubles at Balmain Leagues Club (who by this stage had defaulted on payments to the Wests Tigers) a new shareholder agreement was put into place with the supervision of the NRL. A new seven-person board was nominated with two from Balmain Tigers, two from Wests Leagues and three independents. A new NRL deed was issued along with a new Wests Tigers constitution being drawn up. Mike Bailey continued as chairman of the board of Wests Tigers.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Marina Go – Chairperson (Independent NRL Appointment),Tony Andreacchio - (Wests Ashfield Leagues Board Member), Simon Cook - (Wests Ashfield Leagues CEO), Lucio Bartololeo - (Independent NRL Appointment), Rosemary Sinclair - (Independent NRL Appointment)


title: Wests Tigers

text: Balmain Leagues Club had no appointed directors due to the club moving into funding default, and were termed "unfinancial shareholders". Balmain were in debt to the NRL to a sum of nearly AU$5 million, which was due to be repaid on 16 March 2016. At the time, it was announced that should Balmain Leagues Club fail to repay the loan, the shares would be considered "in default" and would be placed for sale. The agreement was made that Wests Ashfield Leagues Club would be offered first call to buy all the shares, pay off the NRL debts and become sole owner. If Wests Ashfield declined, the shares could be offered for general sale.


title: Wests Tigers

text: One of the first tasks for the board was to appoint a new club coach. The club moved to appoint Jason Taylor (who had played for Western Suburbs between 1990 and 1993) on 29 September 2014 for the oncoming 2015 season, following guidance of CEO Meyer, and supported by Chair Go. Phil Moss also joined the club as General Manager of Football Operations at the same time.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Jason Taylor began the new season with Robbie Farah as captain. The first game of the season started off vs the Gold Coast Titans. A far from convincing performance gave the Tigers a one-point field goal victory coming from the boot of Pat Richards. The season ended with Wests Tigers 15th on the ladder sharing 20 points with the Knights, with Tigers goal difference preventing the wooden spoon.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Off the pitch politics continued through the year with ownership issues still dominating headlines for the football club, with the NRL maintaining its financial interest in the club given the poor state of affairs at Balmain Leagues Club. Adding to the troubles at the club, CEO Grant Meyer tendered his resignation on 15 June 2015


title: Wests Tigers

text: The club also made headlines with rumours and stories that the club coach and captain were in difference of opinion about how the team should be playing. In August 2015 the club made a statement on their website announcing that Farah had been given permission to speak with other football clubs for the 2016 season.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The new club CEO was announced on 4 September 2015 with Justin Pascoe, previously at Penrith Panthers, appointed to the role.


title: Wests Tigers

text: September 2015 also saw the announcement of a three-year sponsorship agreement with Brydens Lawyers. The three-year multimillion-dollar deal was the largest in the club's history and saw Brydens logo on the front and sleeve of the Wests Tigers jerseys.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The 2016 season started off with Aaron Woods replacing Robbie Farah as club captain, and the club made a promising start to the season with home wins against New Zealand Warriors and Manly Sea Eagles. A string of losses including a 60 points to 6 loss against the Canberra Raiders left the club struggling at the lower end of the table. Off field, the drama surrounding Robbie Farah continued with speculation that he would leave the club by the end of the season.


title: Wests Tigers

text: After a string of mixed results, including two wins against rivals South Sydney, but a poor loss to Newcastle left Wests Tigers 9th on the ladder, a point away from the top 8 at the end of the full season.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The end of the season also saw the Robbie Farah saga concluded, with Farah penning a two-year deal with South Sydney Rabbitohs. Robbie left the club having played 247 games and scoring 61 tries.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Early in the 2017 season, after a pair of heavy defeats to the Penrith Panthers and Canberra Raiders, Taylor was dismissed from his position as head coach.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Assistant Coach Andrew Webster was appointed as caretaker manager whilst the CEO and Board recruited a new full-time replacement.


title: Wests Tigers

text: 2016 also had its watershed moment with the ownership of the football club finally resolved. On 5 May 2016 the club released a statement announcing the restructure of the football club


title: Wests Tigers

text: In an $8.5 million deal, Wests Ashfield Leagues Club assumed majority ownership of the football franchise. As the press statement read "The ownership structure sees Wests move to 75% ownership with Balmain retaining 25% and the Board expanded to nine directors". Wests Ashfield Leagues Club (and by relationship Wests Magpies) has settled all debts owed to the NRL by the Wests Tigers Football club. Balmain Tigers Leagues Club in a separate financial agreement had an outstanding loan and debt to NRL. Wests Ashfield Leagues Club were guarantors of that loan. Note that the loan was not secured against the Wests Tigers Football Club.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The new board had five members appointed from Wests Ashfield, two from Balmain along with two independents.


title: Wests Tigers

text: After a week of rumours in the press on 3 April 2017, it was announced that Ivan Cleary had accepted the role of coach through to the end of the 2020 season with immediate effect, at a press conference held at Wests Ashfield Leagues Club.


title: Wests Tigers

text: During a press conference with Coach Cleary late on in April, a single near throwaway comment was made by Ivan about how he approached his first meeting with the players. He said to the press "I told the players you are either on the bus, or you are off it". This one line became a marketing slogan used through his tenure as coach and the "On The Bus" slogan became used by fans and media alike.


title: Wests Tigers

text: 2017 turned out to be a poor one for Wests Tigers on the field with The NRL team finishing in 14th spot, The Under 20s Holden Cup team finishing 2nd to last and The NSW Cup team finishing with the wooden spoon.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In the 2018 NRL season, Wests started off the year with impressive wins over the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne before a mid season slump saw the club only winning 3 out of 10 games between Round 10 and Round 20. Wests would end up finishing in 9th position on the table missing the finals. Their final game of the year was a 51–10 loss against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Towards the end of the season, rumours and news swirled around the press and media about Ivan Cleary leaving the Wests Tigers to return to Penrith Panthers.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On 28 October 2018, Wests released coach Ivan Cleary from the final two years of his contract. Cleary also sent a departing text message to the tigers playing group saying "G'day boys I hope this finds you well and enjoying your time off, I was writing to you in the hope of beating the press.. to let you know that I will no longer be your coach at Wests Tigers. This is an extremely uncomfortable situation for me as I have genuine fondness for the club, and I have loved coaching you all.. I understand that this situation has caused some pain for people that I care about, along with putting the club in an awkward situation... I do not feel good about this. I would have preferred to do this in person but time and circumstances have made that impossible. I hope we meet again soon and I wish you all the very best in the future. You have my number and I am always open for a chat if you wish. Iv".


title: Wests Tigers

text: With the signs that Cleary was leaving the club, a search was underway for his replacement. The same day the club announced Cleary's departure Michael Maguire was announced as coach through to the end of 2021. One of Michael Maguires early decisions at the club following the Christmas break was to remove the "co-captain" arrangement and appoint Moses MBye as the club's sole and only captain.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Under the guidance of Maguire, Wests Tigers football club has changed the team's slogan. "On the Bus" was replaced with "This is Our Jungle" for the 2019 season.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On 19 December 2018 the NRL Integrity Unit under the guidance of the NRL CEO Todd Greenburg announced the Wests Tigers had been found to have fraudulently and intentionally breached the NRL Salary Cap. Greenburg announced that when playmaker Robbie Farah was released to the South Sydney Rabbitohs in 2016, CEO Justin Pascoe had offered to employ Farah back at the club on his retirement from football in return for Robbie agreeing to leave without incident. Despite Farah never accepting this position, and despite this story being broadcast in the media at the time, the NRL Integrity Unit decided that this offer was a sufficient incentive for Robbie to leave, it should have been formally lodged with the NRL. This was constituted a serious breach of the salary cap. The football club was fined $750,000, include the alleged salary offered to Robbie of $639,000 to the 2019 salary cap and CEO Pascoe was advised it was the intention of the NRL to de-register the experienced sports administrator from ever managing a club in the NRL.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The football club appealed this decision, and on 1 March 2019 the NRL backtracked on the position from December 2018 and halved the fine to $350,000, allowed the club to split the $639,000 of the cap breach over seasons 2019 and 2020 and CEO Justin Pascoe would be stood down for 6 months only (backdated to the original date of 19 December 2018).


title: Wests Tigers

text: In the interim, Wests Ashfield CEO, Simon Cook, assumed the role of interim CEO at the football club, and temporarily stood down from his position on the football club board. Head of Football Kelly Egan left the club prior to Pascoe's return as did chairman Marino Go and Chief Operating Officer Ryan Webb.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On 12 March 2019 the club announced to the media and press that former NSW State Premier Barry O'Farrell had been appointed as chair of the Board of Directors, replacing Marina Go, who had come to the end of her tenure.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The 2019 NRL season began with the knowledge that the club would take occupancy in the newly constructed Western Sydney Stadium in Parramatta. Four home games were allocated to this exciting new venue. The opening game of the season was played in wet conditions at Leichhardt Oval in front of 13,000 fans, with the team victors 20–6 against a poor Manly Sea Eagles team. A second round win against the free running New Zealand Warriors a week later in front of nearly 10,000 fans in Campbelltown again in wet conditions was a good start to the season. In round 6 against the Parramatta Eels, Wests played in the first NRL game at the new Western Sydney Stadium which ended in the club losing 51–6.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Wests Tigers took another "home" game on the road in 2019, with a match hosted in Scully Park in Tamworth. Nearly 10,000 fans turned out to watch Wests run out 30–14 victors over lower placed Gold Coast Titans.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The first home game of the season at the newly named BankWest stadium was held on Friday 7 June against the Canberra Raiders. The 0–28 result in front of 12,000 supporters lent some fans to make the comment "This is not our jungle".


title: Wests Tigers

text: Wests Tigers playmaker, Benji Marshall, played his 300th game in the NRL on 14 July at BankWest stadium in front of more than 25,000 fans. Wests lost the game 30–18 against the Parramatta Eels.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In round 25 against Cronulla-Sutherland, Wests went into the game knowing that whoever won the match would be guaranteed a finals spot as both teams came into the last game of the year on equal points. Wests would end up losing the match 25–8 at a packed Leichhardt Oval which was also retiring Robbie Farah's final game. The loss also meant that this was the sixth time that Wests had finished ninth since the joint venture started in 2000.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On 13 November 2019 the club announced Lee Hagipantelis had been appointed chair of the Board of the football club. Whilst Mr O'Farrell had only been with the club for a short while, he resigned his post to take up the position of Ambassador to India for Australia.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The new season was kicked off with an away game against St. George Illawarra at WIN Stadium in Wollongong. Wests Tigers ran out 24-14 victors against the Red V. The season was interrupted with the global pandemic COVID-19 following the opening round, with all games being placed on hiatus.


title: Wests Tigers

text: When the shortened NRL season recommenced, all games were played initially behind closed doors. Wests played six matches with no fans able to visit the stadia to watch the games. Fans were re-admitted in limited numbers in round 8 with Wests Tigers losing to Penrith in front of 5000 fans at Bankwest Stadium.


title: Wests Tigers

text: 2020 wasn't a great year for the club on the pitch, eventually fading away to 11th position, with only seven wins and thirteen losses. The club also set a new unwanted record being the first side since the competition began in 1908 to concede 24 points or more in a game for ten consecutive matches.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On 18 August Chris Lawrence announced he would be retiring from the Wests Tigers and from Rugby League as a player. Lawrence retired having played 253 games for the club, and having scored 84 tries


title: Wests Tigers

text: On 1 September the club announced that Benji Marshall would not be playing on into 2021. This announcement was seen by many fans as deplorable and a petition soon garnered almost 10,000 signatures by fans, with Benji later claiming that he heard about this news via the press, not from the club. Marshall left the club having played 257 games over two stints at the club scoring 84 tries.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The 2020 NRL season at Wests Tigers was also memorable for the first of its kind "player swap". Melbourne hooker Harry Grant and Wests Tigers centre, Paul Momirovski swapped club's for the 2020 season. The deal, brokered by Melbourne coach Craig Bellamy and Wests coach Michael Maguire, was the first of its kind within the NRL modern era game. The two players swapped playing clubs for the remainder of the 2020 NRL season.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On 2 October 2020 the Amalgamation of Wests Ashfield Leagues Club and Balmain Tigers Leagues Club was cemented. As per the Deed of Amalgamation, this changed the ownership structure of the club to effectively be 90% Wests Ashfield, 10% Balmain Tigers.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The 2021 NRL season opened with fresh hope for Wests Tigers fans. With a number of new signings at the club including Jimmy "The Jet" Roberts, and Daine Laurie in as fullback, the club moved Adam Doueihi to Number 6 to partner Luke Brooks in the halves, with Jacob Liddle coming in as hooker.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The first five rounds however were not a great success, with the club picking up only two points with a win over Newcastle. In round 4 of the 2021 NRL season against Parramattta at Stadium Australia, the match recorded the highest attendance at a Rugby League game so far in 2021 with an official attendance of 29,056.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In round 5 of the competition, there was a lot of emotion at Leichhardt Oval, with the club paying tribute following the death of Western Suburbs legend, Tommy Raudonikis. The #7 jersey was retired for the game in memoriam, with Luke Brooks running out in #22. The game itself was more known for the team being booed off by fans at half time, trailing the un-fancied North Queensland Cowboys 28–6. The game ended up 34–30 to North Queensland with Wests Tigers rallying in the second half.


title: Wests Tigers

text: April 2021 also saw a minor change to the Board of Directors of the football club, with Mick Liubinskas being replaced by Julie Romero. Like Mick, Julie was a nominee by Wests Ashfield Leagues Club, a director of that leagues club and a Wests Ashfield Debenture holder.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In round 9 of the 2021 NRL season, the club played at Campbelltown Sports Ground and they wore specially designed jerseys as part of a celebration into the life of Tommy Raudonikis OAM. The match ball was delivered onto the pitch by Tommy's partner, Trish. Wests Tigers lost the game against the Gold Coast 36–28.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In June 2021, it was announced that Premiership winning coach, Tim Sheens, would be returning to the club in the capacity of Head of Football Performance focussing on pathways, development and talent identification.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Wests Tigers finished the 2021 NRL season in 13th place after an awful season which saw them only win three times in the last eleven games. In the final round of the season, Wests were defeated 38-0 by Wooden Spooners Canterbury-Bankstown. After this point, there were talks that head coach Michael Maguire was to be terminated from his position but on 21 September it was announced he would be kept on as head coach for the 2022 season.


title: Wests Tigers

text: On the 15th October 2021, the club announced that General Manager of Football, Adam Hartigan, had left the club.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The 2022 NRL season began with key playmakers Adam Doueihi and Dane Laurie sidelined through injury, but with new signing Jackson Hastings moving into the number 7 position, with Luke Brooks shifting to 6. After 12 rounds heading into the bye round for the State of Origin series, Wests Tigers had only achieved three wins for the season so far. After much rumour in the press, on 7 June 2022 the football club announced the termination of head coach, Michael Maguire.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Brett Kimmorley was then handed the role as interim head coach until the end of the season whilst the football club searched for a full time replacement. In round 23, the club was defeated 72-6 by the Sydney Roosters which made the loss the heaviest in the Wests Tigers history.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In round 24, Wests Tigers lost 24-22 against St. George Illawarra, the result meant that the club would finish bottom of the table and claim their first Wooden Spoon in club history.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Wests Tigers lost their last game of the season 56-10 at Leichhardt Oval against the Canberra Raiders. The score was 42-0 at halftime.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Wests Tigers are a joint venture, which was formed between Wests Magpies and Balmain Tigers football clubs.


title: Wests Tigers

text: With an operating club known as Wests Ashfield Leagues Club, the club building is located on Liverpool Road, Ashfield. The club is the primary financial donor to the Wests Tigers rugby league franchise outside of the revenue provided by the NRL. From 2014 was the only Leagues Club which directly subsidized the Wests Tigers Rugby League franchise.


title: Wests Tigers

text: A foundation club of the NSWRFL, Balmain Tigers Rugby League Football Club was established on 23 January 1908 at Balmain Town Hall. The club has competed in the NSWRL competitions for 110 years, winning 11 first grade premierships.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Also operating a club known as Balmain Leagues Club, the operating business was built in 1957. The original site was situated on the corner of Victoria Road and Darling Street, Rozelle. The club was the venue for a celebration party after Wests Tigers won the NRL Premiership in 2005.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Leagues Club closed its doors on 28 March 2010, with the former club site now vacant after receiving a notice to vacate the site to make way for the proposed Rozelle Village development to go ahead.


title: Wests Tigers

text: In September 2019 members of both Balmain Leagues Club and Wests Ashfield Leagues club voted almost unanimously for an amalgamation to take place. Once ratified by office of Liquor and Gaming, Balmain Leagues Club ceased to exist.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Wests Leagues Club is located in Leumeah, next door to Campbelltown Stadium, one of the Wests Tigers home grounds. Wests Campbelltown Leagues was established in 1987 when Wests Ashfield Leagues purchased the former Campbelltown City Kangaroos Club.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The football club allows for up to 9 board members. The consist of the board allows for the following:


title: Wests Tigers

text: As WSDRLFC is an entity controlled by Wests Ashfield Leagues, by relationship, the Ashfield club has 5 nominated board seats.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The recurrent used homes grounds have been Campbelltown Sports Stadium and Leichhardt Oval. These grounds are around 50 km apart and are in Magpie and Tiger territories respectively. Other home games have previously been played at the Sydney Football Stadium and Stadium Australia. In 2019 Wests Tigers took the first of their home games to the brand new Western Sydney Stadium.


title: Wests Tigers

text: From 2004 until 2006, a "home game" was played at Lancaster Park against the Auckland based New Zealand Warriors. This agreement was not renewed for 2007 and in that year a game was played at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford against Melbourne Storm. In 2008, one home game was played at the Sydney Cricket Ground as part of the Centenary of Rugby League celebrations, and also one game at the Sydney Football Stadium. In 2018, one home game was played at Mount Smart Stadium in Auckland as part of a double header at the venue. In 2019 a home game was played at Scully Park in Tamworth. A second home game in Tamworth was planned for May 2020, however was postponed due to the ongoing Covid outbreak.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The club's name and logo are a combination of the two partners. The uniform colours are a combination of the black and white of the Western Suburbs Magpies uniform and the black and gold from the Balmain Tigers uniform. The logo combines a modern "in your face" Tiger with a traditional Wests 'V' in the background. There is also a Magpie (taken from the Western Suburbs Logo) on both sleeves of the Jersey. In 2009, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the joint venture, a predominantly white strip with a gold 'V' was unveiled.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Since formation, the Wests Tigers have mostly retained the same logo with subtle changes. On October 6, 2021, Wests Tigers unveiled a simplified logo ahead of the 2022 NRL season, retaining the tiger head of previous emblems with fewer details. The rebranding is intended to make the identity more suitable to modern digital formats, and is set to coincide with the Tigers' move to a new training and administration base.


title: Wests Tigers

text: Some notable supporters of the club include Russell Arnold, Jimmy Barnes, Ash Barty Tim Cahill, Michael Clark, Michael Clarke, Vic Darchinyan, Anthony Field, Dawn Fraser, Daniel Geale, Julie Goodwin, Jimmy Little, Paul Murray, Barry O'Farrell, Dominic Perrottet, Jordan Thompson, and Harry Triguboff


title: Wests Tigers

text: Robbie Farah holds the record for most appearances for The Wests Tigers with 277. Having played in every game of the 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011 seasons.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The highest point-scorers for the club have been players who have undertaken goalkicking duties for a period. Benji Marshall has scored the most points for the club (1181), followed by Brett Hodgson (786), and Joel Caine (526). In 2005, Hodgson scored a record 308 points during the season, the most points ever scored by a fullback in one season. In the semis of 2005, he also scored 30 points in one match against the North Queensland Cowboys.


title: Wests Tigers

text: David Nofoaluma has the most tries for the Wests Tigers, accumulating 95. Taniela Tuiaki scored a club-record 21 tries during the 2009 season.


title: Wests Tigers

text: The Wests Tigers Team of the Century was announced in 2004, encompassing the best players from both Balmain and Western Suburbs. Nine Balmain players and eight from Western Suburbs made up the 17 members of the team.


title: ABBA Gold

text: ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits is a compilation album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released on 21 September 1992 through PolyGram and released in 2008 through Universal Music Australia, making it the first compilation to be released after the company had acquired Polar Music, and thus the rights to the ABBA back catalogue.


title: ABBA Gold

text: With sales of 30 million, "Gold" is the best-selling ABBA album, as well one of the best-selling albums worldwide. Since 1992, it has been re-released several times, most notably in 1999 as the first remastered reissue to mark the group's 25th anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest 1974, in 2008 to coincide with the release of the film "Mamma Mia!" and most recently in 2014 to mark the group's 40th anniversary of winning the Eurovision Song Contest.


title: ABBA Gold

text: Prior to its release, all previously released ABBA compilations had been deleted and only the original studio albums (along with the 1986 live album) remained in print. "Gold: Greatest Hits" was well received by the music-buying public, and went on to be one of the best-selling albums of all time.


title: ABBA Gold

text: The 1992 and 1999 editions released in Australia and New Zealand (and some other territories in that area) had a modified track listing (see below) to include three local hits, replacing three other songs on the international edition.


title: ABBA Gold

text: The 2002 re-release was not released in Australia, while in New Zealand, the international edition was issued.


title: ABBA Gold

text: The original 1992 release had a slightly different track listing, replacing the English versions of "Chiquitita" and "Fernando" with the Spanish language versions.


title: ABBA Gold

text: Shortly after the release of "Gold: Greatest Hits", a Spanish version of the album, titled "" was issued, followed later by "Mas Oro: Mas Grandes Exitos".


title: ABBA Gold

text: In 1992 a VHS video was released which included all tracks from the original album. During the 1990s, various regional variations on this video were issued, until Universal Music decided in 2003 to re-issue the video on VHS and DVD. The track listing was similar to the original album, with some added content: a 25-minute documentary produced in 1999, and the 1992 video of "Dancing Queen".


title: ABBA Gold

text: In 2010, the DVD was remastered with six bonus clips, including five "split-screen" versions of the clips to show which improvements were made by remastering the old videos. These "split-screen" clips were "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!", "Mamma Mia", "Dancing Queen", "The Winner Takes It All" and "Money, Money, Money". The sixth bonus clip was an Australian cartoon version of "Money, Money, Money". The 2010 edition did not include the 2003 ABBA documentary or the 1992 version of "Dancing Queen". This disc was available as a stand-alone DVD and as part of the 2010 'Special Edition' re-release.


title: ABBA Gold

text: In 2002, "Gold: Greatest Hits" was released in mainland Europe (though not in the UK) with a bonus second disc.


title: ABBA Gold

text: The UK saw a 30th Anniversary Edition released in 2004 with a gold-coloured sleeve cover with black writing, rather than the normal black sleeve with gold writing. The original release included a DVD with 18 of the 19 songs from the CD, excluding "The Name of the Game". It is also available without the DVD.


title: ABBA Gold

text: With pure sales of 5.61 million copies, "Gold: Greatest Hits" is the second-highest selling album of all time in the United Kingdom, after Queen's "Greatest Hits". In August, 2019, "Gold: Greatest Hits" became the longest-running top 100 album of all time, spending 900 weeks on the UK Albums Chart. The album spent 61 (non-consecutive) weeks in the top 10 and topped the British chart 5 times, most recently for two weeks in 2008 following release of the motion picture "Mamma Mia!". As of July 2021, "Gold" became the first album to reach 1000 weeks on the Official Charts in United Kingdom with pure sales of 5.61 million copies sold in United Kingdom. In November 2021, it was awarded 20× Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry, denoting six millions album-equivalent unit in the UK.


title: ABBA Gold

text: In the United States, the album has sold a total of 5.8 million copies and is the nineteenth biggest-selling greatest-hits album in the Nielsen Music era (which began in 1991). In Canada, "Gold: Greatest Hits" achieved Diamond status (one million units sold) in May, 2000.


title: ABBA Gold

text: In Germany, "Gold: Greatest Hits" has been certified five times Platinum for shipment of 2.5 million units. It has also been certified 10 times Platinum in Switzerland for sales of 500,000 units. In Austria, the album charted for 397 weeks, making it the all-time second longest stay on the chart. After reaching catalogue status, it returned to the top 10 three times, twice in the wake of the releases of "Mamma Mia! The Movie Soundtrack" and "" and once due to the release of a special edition.


title: ABBA Gold

text: "Gold: Greatest Hits" has been called one of the most influential compilation albums ever released. Music critic Elisabeth Vincentelli ("New York Post"; "Time Out New York") credits the album for a revival of critical interest in ABBA's music after ten years of neglect following the band's 1982 break-up.


title: ABBA Gold

text: Writing for "Pitchfork" in 2019, reviewer Jamieson Cox agreed, describing "Gold: Greatest Hits" as a "refined package with surprising emotional range". The album, he wrote, "capitalized on a simmering, subcultural interest in ABBA’s work and sparked a full-blown revival" that culminated in the "Mamma Mia!" stage and film productions.


title: ABBA Gold

text: "BuzzFeed" music editor Matthew Perpetua included "Gold: Greatest Hits" among the compilations he considered "so well curated in presenting a fertile period of a career that they are arguably an artist's definitive work".


title: ABBA Gold

text: Former "Rolling Stone" magazine writer Tom Moon included "Gold: Greatest Hits" among his "1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die", describing the tracks as "models of impeccable craft", adding that the album is "an excellent starter kit for those wanting to investigate the DNA of post-Beatles pop."


title: ABBA Gold

text: Writing for "Vanity Fair", singer-songwriter Elvis Costello included "Gold: Greatest Hits" among his list of 500 essential albums.


title: Page (servant)

text: A page or page boy is traditionally a young male attendant or servant, but may also have been a messenger in the service of a nobleman.


title: Page (servant)

text: The origin of the term is uncertain, but it may come either from the Latin "pagus" (servant), possibly linked to peasant, or an earlier Greek word ("pais" = child).


title: Page (servant)

text: In medieval times, a page was an attendant to a nobleman, a knight, a governor or a castellan. Until the age of about seven, sons of noble families would receive training in manners and basic literacy from their mothers or other female relatives. Upon reaching seven years of age, a boy would be sent to the castle, great house or other estate of another noble family. This would match the age at which apprenticeships or servants' employment would be entered into by young males from lower social classes.


title: Page (servant)

text: A young boy served as a page for about seven years, running messages, serving, cleaning clothing and weapons, and learning the basics of combat. He might be required to arm or dress the lord to whom he had been sent by his own family. Personal service of this nature was not considered as demeaning, in the context of shared noble status by page and lord. It was seen rather as a form of education in return for labour. While a page did not receive reimbursement other than clothing, accommodation and food, he could be rewarded for an exceptional act of service. In return for his work, the page would receive training in horse-riding, hunting, hawking and combat – the essential skills required of adult men of his rank in medieval society.


title: Page (servant)

text: Less physical training included schooling in the playing of musical instruments, the composition and singing of songs, and the learning of board games such as chess. The initial education received as a child in reading and writing would be continued to a level of modest competence under the tuition of a chaplain or other cleric, and possibly from a grammar master. They also learned courtly manners and, in attending to the needs of their master, a degree of temporary humility.


title: Page (servant)

text: Medieval pages might accompany their lords to war. While their roles in battle were generally limited to secondary assistance and minor support functions, pages might expect to participate directly in siege situations. This could occur when a castle was under attack and crossbows were available for use by pages among the defenders. The mechanical and long-range nature of these devices made them almost the only medieval weapon which could be employed effectively by a youth.


title: Page (servant)

text: At age fourteen, the young noble could graduate to become a squire, and by age 21, perhaps a knight himself. These boys were often the scions of other great families who were sent to learn the ways of the manorial system by observation. Their residence in the house served as a goodwill gesture between the two families involved and helped them gain social and political contacts for their adult lives. A reference to this kind of page is found in the Christmas carol "Good King Wenceslaus": "Hither, page, and stand by me, if thou know'st it, telling..."


title: Page (servant)

text: A page may also have shared the broad designation of "quistroun" with various lower-status kitchen servants such as scullions or knaves.


title: Page (servant)

text: Until the early 20th century, boys of humble background might gain a similar place in a great house. According to the International Butler Academy, these pages were apprentice footmen. Unlike the hall boys, who did heavy work, these pages performed light odd-jobs and stood in attendance wearing livery when guests were being received.


title: Page (servant)

text: During and following the Renaissance, it became fashionable for black boys and young men to be decorative pages, placed into fancy costumes and attending fashionable ladies and lords. This custom lasted for several centuries and the "African page" became a staple accoutrement of baroque and rococo style.


title: Page (servant)

text: Similarly, Oriental pages were periodically in fashion, e.g. in Napoleonic France since Bonaparte's conquest of Ottoman Egypt.


title: Page (servant)

text: While the traditional pages are rare in the modern private workforce, US television network NBC's page program is a notable example of contemporary workplace pages.


title: Santhal rebellion

text: The Santhal rebellion (also known as the Sonthal rebellion or the Santhal Hool), was a rebellion in present-day Jharkhand and


title: Santhal rebellion

text: West Bengal , Eastern India against both the British East India Company (BEIC) and zamindari system by the Santhal. It started on June 30, 1855 and on November 10, 1855, martial law was proclaimed by the East India Company which lasted until January 3, 1856 when martial law was suspended and the rebellion was eventually suppressed by the Presidency armies. The rebellion was led by the four sibling Brothers - Sidhu, Kanhu, Chand and Bhairav.


title: Santhal rebellion

text: The rebellion of the Santhals began as a reaction to end the revenue system of the British East India Company (BEIC), usury practices, and the zamindari system in India; in the tribal belt of what was then known as the Bengal Presidency. It was a revolt against the oppression of the colonial rule propagated through a distorted revenue system, enforced by the local zamindars, the police and the courts of the legal system set up by the British East India Company.


title: Santhal rebellion

text: The Santhals lived in and depended on forests. In 1832, the BEIC demarcated the Damin-i-koh region in present day Jharkhand and invited Santhals to settle in the region. Due to promises of land and economic amenities a large numbers of Santhals came to settle from Dhalbhum, Manbhum, Hazaribagh, Midnapore etc. Soon, mahajans and zamindars, as tax-collecting intermediaries employed by the BEIC, dominated the economy. Many Santals became victims of corrupt money lending practices. They were lent money at exorbitant rates. When they were unable to repay the loan, their lands were forcibly taken and they were forced into bonded labour. This sparked the Santal rebellion by Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, two brothers who led the Santals during the rebellion.


title: Santhal rebellion

text: On 30 June 1855, two Santal rebel leaders, Sidhu and Kanhu Murmu, mobilized roughly 60,000 Santhals and declared a rebellion against the East India Company. Sidhu Murmu had accumulated about ten thousand Santhals to run a parallel government during the rebellion. The basic purpose was to collect taxes by making and enforcing his own laws.


title: Santhal rebellion

text: Soon after the declaration, the Santhals took to arms. In many villages, the Zamindars, money lenders, and their operatives were executed. The open rebellion caught the Company administration by surprise. Initially, a small contingent was sent to suppress the rebels but they were unsuccessful and this further fueled the spirit of the revolt. When the law and order situation was getting out of hand, the Company administration finally took a major step and sent in a large number of troops assisted by the local Zamindars and the Nawab of Murshidabad to quell the Rebellion. The East India Company announced an bounty of Rs. 10,000 to arrest Sidhu and his brother Kanhu Murmu.


title: Santhal rebellion

text: A number of skirmishes occurred after this which resulted in a large number of casualties for the Santhal forces. The primitive weapons of the Santhals proved to be unable to match the gunpowder weapons of the East India Company military. Troop detachments from the 7th Native Infantry Regiment, 40th Native Infantry, and others were called into action. Major skirmishes occurred from July 1855 to January 1856, in places like Kahalgaon, Suri, Raghunathpur, and Munkatora.


title: Santhal rebellion

text: The revolt was eventually suppressed after Sidhu and Kanhu were killed in action. War elephants, supplied by the Nawab of Murshidabad, were used to demolish Santhal huts during the rebellion. In this event over 15,000 were killed, tens of villages were destroyed and many were mobilized during the rebellion.


title: Santhal rebellion

text: During the rebellion, the Santhal leader was able to mobilize roughly 60,000 Santhal forming groups, with 1500 to 2000 people forming a group. The rebellion is supported by poor tribals and non-tribals like Gowalas and Lohars (who were milkmen and blacksmiths) in the form of providing information and weapons. Ranabir Samaddar argues that apart from Santhals, other aboriginal inhabitants of the region like Mahatos, Kamars, Bagdis, Bagals and others also participated in the rebellion. The Mahatos were participated under leadership of Chanku Mahato.


title: Seasons of Love

text: "Seasons of Love" is a song from the 1996 Broadway musical "Rent", written and composed by Jonathan Larson. The song starts with an ostinato piano motif, which provides the harmonic framework for the cast to sing "Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes" (the number of minutes in a common year). The main instruments used throughout the song are piano, vocals, guitar, organ, bass and drums.


title: Seasons of Love

text: The song is performed by the entire cast in the musical and in the 2005 film adaptation. The lyrics ask what the proper way is to quantify the value of a year in human life, concluding in the chorus that the most effective means is to "measure in love". Since four of the lead characters either have HIV or AIDS, the song is often associated with World AIDS Day and AIDS awareness month.


title: Seasons of Love

text: Jonathan Larson actually intended for "Seasons of Love" to be performed symbolically as a song at Angel's funeral. When Larson died the night before the preview opening of the show, the cast sang it at the beginning to pay their respects to the composer. It is performed at the beginning of the second act, referencing recent past events or the events to come. The song is heard twice throughout the second act (once as the opener, before A Happy New Year and the reprise is heard after "Take Me or Leave Me", before "Without You") before hearing it in its last incarnation as background to I'll Cover You: Reprise and Angel's eulogy.


title: Seasons of Love

text: In the stage production, the song is sung at the opening of the second act. The cast stands downstage in a straight line facing the audience. The entire cast performs the song, and the solos are normally performed by two cast members who play several minor roles each (namely Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson). "Seasons of Love" is performed in two parts, the first at the beginning of Act II with the reprise following a few numbers later, following "Take Me or Leave Me".


title: Seasons of Love

text: The song has been translated into multiple languages for the international productions of the musical ("Tiempos de amor" in Spanish, "Nur Liebe Bleibt" in German, "Sígræn ást" in Icelandic and "A szerelem évszakai" in Hungarian).


title: Seasons of Love

text: In the 2005 film version of "Rent", "Seasons of Love" and its reprise are performed. Only the eight principal characters perform the song, and the two solos are performed by Joanne (Tracie Thoms) and Tom Collins (Jesse L. Martin). "Seasons of Love" is first performed at the start of the film with the cast singing it on a theater stage. In the reprise the song plays as a backdrop to a documentary style film about New York life made by the character Mark. Selections from "Seasons of Love" were also used in several of the film's trailers and other promotional material.


title: Seasons of Love

text: In addition to the 1996 Original Cast Recording (OCR) a number of different versions have been recorded. Along with the OCR soundtrack is an alternative version of Seasons of Love featuring Stevie Wonder who sings (and improvises upon) the part usually sung by the soloists and also plays harmonica.


title: Seasons of Love

text: "The Office (U.S.)" characters surprised lead actor Steve Carell playing Michael Scott upon his departure on the show during "Michael's Last Dundies".


title: Seasons of Love

text: In January 2021 a parody entitled "Seasons of Trump" was posted on YouTube by Randy Rainbow about the presidency of Donald Trump. As of February 27, 2021 this had received over 1.9M views.


title: Seasons of Love

text: On October 10, 2013, the song was covered on the third episode of the fifth season of "Glee", "The Quarterback", as a tribute to Cory Monteith and his character Finn Hudson. This version placed on a few record charts, published by "Billboard".


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Two New Zealand flag referendums were held by the New Zealand Government in November/December 2015 and March 2016 to determine the nation's flag. The voting resulted in the retention of the current flag of New Zealand.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Shortly after the referendum announcement, party leaders reviewed draft legislation and selected candidates for a Flag Consideration Panel. The purpose of this group was to publicise the process, seek flag submissions and suggestions from the public, and decide on a final shortlist of options. Open consultation and design solicitation garnered 10,292 design suggestions from the public, later reduced to a "longlist" of 40 designs and then a "shortlist" of four designs to contend in the first referendum. Following a petition, the shortlist was later expanded to include a fifth design, the Red Peak.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The first referendum took place between 20 November and 11 December 2015 and asked, "If the New Zealand flag changes, which flag would you prefer?" Voters were presented with several options selected by the Flag Consideration Panel. The black, white, and blue silver fern flag by Kyle Lockwood advanced to the second referendum.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The second referendum took place between 3 and 24 March 2016. It asked voters to choose between the selected alternative (the black, white and blue silver fern flag) and the existing New Zealand flag.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Reception of the process and the finalist designs were highly critical, with no great enthusiasm shown among the public. From an aggregation of analyses, the consensus was that the referendum was "a bewildering process that seems to have satisfied few".


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: New Zealand has a history of debate about whether the national flag should be changed. For several decades, alternative designs have been proposed, with varying degrees of support. There is no consensus among proponents of changing the flag as to which design should replace the flag.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: In January 2014, Prime Minister John Key floated the idea of a referendum on a new flag at the 2014 general election. The proposal was met with a mixed response. Then in March, Key announced that New Zealand would hold a referendum within the next three years asking whether to change the flag design, if the National Party be re-elected for a third term. Following National's re-election the details of the referendum were announced.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The results of both referendums were binding, meaning the flag with the most votes in the second referendum would become the official flag of New Zealand. In the unlikely event the second referendum vote was tied, an assumption for the status quo would have applied.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: If a new flag design had been chosen, assuming no intellectual property issues, the Flags, Emblems and Names Protection Act 1981 would have been updated to reflect the new design six months to the day after the second referendum results were declared (or earlier by Order in Council). The current flag would have remained the official flag until then; for example, the current flag would have been flown during the 2016 Summer Olympics, four months after the second referendum took place, regardless of the results of the second referendum. This result would not have changed the coat of arms (which includes the current national flag), the national Māori flag, the flags of Associated States (Cook Islands and Niue), or the New Zealand Red Ensign (merchant marine), White Ensign (naval), (both incorporating Union Flags) police flag and fire service flag (which are based on the current flag). It would also not change New Zealand's status as a constitutional monarchy in the Commonwealth of Nations.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: If the flag had been changed, it would have been legal to have continued to fly the current flag of New Zealand, which would have been "recognised as a flag of historical significance." Old flags would have been replaced once worn out. Official documents depicting the current flag, such as driver licences, would have been phased out as a matter of course – in the case of driver licences, this would have been when licences are renewed and would therefore have taken up to 10 years.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: New Zealand Government ships and those non-government ships flying the New Zealand flag (instead of the New Zealand Red Ensign) would have been given an extra six months to change their flag to the new design. Ships flying the New Zealand Red Ensign and ships belonging to the New Zealand Defence Force would not have been affected by any flag changes, nor would any New Zealand-based ships registered to foreign countries.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The estimated cost of updating government flags and Defence Force uniforms was approximately $2.69 million. Other unknown costs include updating government ships, updating trademarks and logos, publicity of the new flag, excess stock of old flags (including products and souvenirs containing it), and updating all flags, packaging, uniforms and marketing material in the private and sporting sectors. The government would not have provided compensation for the cost of adopting the new flag.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Shortly after announcing the referendum, party leaders were invited to a cross-party group. The purpose of the cross-party group was to review draft legislation allowing for the referendums to take place, and to nominate candidates for a Flag Consideration Panel by mid February 2015. Members included Bill English (Finance Minister and leader of the group), Jonathan Young (representing National), Trevor Mallard (representing Labour), Kennedy Graham (representing Green), Marama Fox (representing Māori), David Seymour (representing ACT) and Peter Dunne (representing United Future). New Zealand First refused to participate.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The Flag Consideration Panel was a separate group of "respected New Zealanders" with representative age, regional, gender and ethnic demographics. Their purpose was to publicise the process, seek flag submissions and suggestions from the public, and decide on a final shortlist of four suitable options for the first referendum. Public consultation took place between May and June 2015. The panel stated that it consulted vexillologists (flag experts) and designers to ensure that the flags chosen were workable and had no impediments. The members of the Flag Consideration Panel were:


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The legislation to set up the referendums passed its first Parliament hearing on 12 March 2015 with a vote of 76 to 43. It was then considered by the Justice and Electoral Select Committee. During their public submission intake phase the RSA launched the "Fight for the Flag" campaign, also backed by New Zealand First, to reverse the question order and first ask if New Zealanders want a flag change. Labour MP Trevor Mallard presented a petition signed by 30,000 people to the Committee, asking for a keep/change question to be added to the first referendum, similar to the 2011 voting system referendum. During its second hearing in Parliament, MP Jacinda Ardern proposed an amendment so that the second referendum would only take place if turnout for the first referendum was at least 50%, as a way of ensuring majority rule and reducing costs if the public was apathetic. Ardern's proposal was voted down and the bill was passed as-is on 29 July 2015.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: As part of the public engagement process, flag designs and symbolism/value suggestions were solicited until 16 July, which resulted in a total of 10,292 design suggestions. All 10,292 submitted design proposals were presented to the public on the New Zealand government website.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: During the public engagement process, the Flag Consideration Panel travelled around the country for workshops and hui. These in-person consultation events were noted to have markedly low attendance. The consideration panel noted strong online engagement with over 850,000 visits to the website and 1,180,000 engagements on social media.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The panel reported that feedback found the themes of freedom, history, equality, respect and family to be the most significant to New Zealanders, however it was later revealed that those themes were dwarfed by the amount of feedback critical of the flag change process. From the submitted designs they found the most common colours were white, blue, red, black, and green. The most common elements incorporated into the flag designs were the Southern Cross, silver fern, kiwi, and koru. The main themes incorporated into the designs were Māori culture, nature and history.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The flag of the United Tribes and the Tino Rangatiratanga flag were not considered as eligible options as a result of consultation with Māori groups.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: From the 10,292 submitted designs, the Flag Consideration Panel deliberations resulted in their selection of a 'long list' shortlist of 40 designs (announced to the public on 10 August 2015).


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: On 1 September 2015, the Flag Consideration Panel announced the four designs to be included in the first referendum. After public disappointment with the official shortlist, a social media campaign was launched on 2 September for the Red Peak flag. On 23 September, the Green Party MP Gareth Hughes attempted to introduce a bill to parliament to include Red Peak as an option in the first referendum. Prime Minister John Key confirmed that the National Party would pick up the legislation, meaning the Red Peak flag was added as a fifth option in the flag referendum.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The referendum process and alternative flag designs were heavily criticised. Commentators identified many issues and reasons for failure, the most significant of which are listed below.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Prime minister John Key's drive to run the referendums was seen as disproportionate compared to apathy among the public. Members of parliament accused the referendums as Key's "vanity project", populist bread and circuses, a distraction from poverty and housing issues, or a vehicle to establish a personal legacy. In hindsight, the National Business Review suggests that politicisation contributed to the referendum's failure, because the debate and the alternative flag designs were so heavily associated with Key and the National Party rather than the actual flag change itself. Key's campaigning was noted as perplexing and ineffectual. His statements on the topic of New Zealand's identity and colonial legacy were mixed, which confused the public. Additionally, he relied on his own existing popularity as the face of the referendum to persuade the public, with a change the flag campaign by Change the NZ Flag. Opposition parties had hitherto supported a flag referendum as party policy, but took the opportunity to politicise this referendum. By focusing on defeating Key himself and criticising the integrity of the process at every stage, the public was split along political party lines and it devolved into a referendum on Key, with many voting for the current flag as a protest vote against him. For example, according to a January 2016 poll by UMR, 16% of those sampled said that they planned to vote to "send a message to John Key". Key's inclusion of the Red Peak design in the shortlist at the request of the Green Party was seen as a belated and futile appeasement, and cross-party support was necessary from the very beginning of the process.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Members of parliament were also concerned about the timing. Some expressed disgust at the timing of the bill just before the centenary of the Gallipoli landing, some said the process was rushed, and Louisa Wall said that no significant event had occurred to warrant a flag change at this time. Others said it was more important to become a republic before considering whether to remove a symbol of British rule from the flag. Political commentators also suggested that the timing was futile. Matthew Hooton pointed out that there would have been sufficient national momentum in the aftermath of the 2011 Rugby World Cup instead. Morgan Godfery suggested that the public kept the current flag due to insecurity about cultural identity at a time when familiar cultural touchstones like house ownership, the dairy industry and demographics were undergoing upheaval. Audrey Young suggested that the process was too rushed, and a longer one lasting at least two electoral cycles would have allowed more time for opposition party support and the possibility of a Labour prime minister overseeing the final result. Martin Kettle cited status quo bias as a critical influence in referendums and noted that change is typically only possible if there is a previously existing, firm, well-informed movement for change.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Opposition parties condemned the flag as low priority compared to current issues in the public consciousness such as education, health and housing. Trevor Mallard and Phil Goff cited the results of recent opinion polls that showed public opposition or apathy to a flag change.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Opposition parties, Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association (RSA) president Barry Clark and members of the public criticised the referendum plan for costing $26 million which could be spent on other issues. The $4 million publicity campaign for the national tour was especially criticised as public turnout was markedly apathetic; some admitted that they attended just for free biscuits, and at the Christchurch event only ten people arrived.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Key defended the cost of the referendum by stating that it was the price to ensure a genuine democratic process and would be a one-off cost for the next "50 to 100 years" regardless of the result. David King pointed out that a stronger brand image for the country could lead to a net financial gain, especially through exports and tourism, with Key pointing out the precedent of Canada changing to its current maple-leaf flag.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: During the first Parliamentary hearing, Labour Party, NZ First, Green Party and Māori Party expressed dissatisfaction with the order of the questions and said that the public should first be asked whether they want a change, and continue with a second referendum only if they do, or both questions compacted into one referendum, which could potentially save millions of dollars. David Seymour (ACT's representative in the Cross-Party Group) said that the planned order made sense, as the public would need to see the alternative designs before deciding on a change. Professor John Burrows, chair of the Flag Consideration Panel, agreed that familiarity with proposals was a prerequisite for a properly informed decision about them.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Various members of parliament accused the process and documents of being biased. Trevor Mallard and Phil Goff claimed that the final list of members of the Flag Consideration Panel was numerically slanted towards those nominated by the National Party, despite the shortlist of candidates being roughly neutral. Denis O'Rourke said that the shortlisting process was undemocratic because the Flag Consideration Panel would select the final flag design options on behalf of New Zealanders. Stuart Nash presented quotes in the Regulatory Impact Statement document admitting that referendum options were restricted by prior decisions by the National Party dominated Cabinet and prime minister, accusing them of pre-determining the process.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: A third-party analysis of submissions to the consideration panel's StandFor.co.nz website revealed that negative submissions were filtered out and disregarded in the panel's report and the associated and widely publicised word cloud. According to this analysis, the largest term in the official word cloud, "equality", appeared in 4.89% of comments, whereas "keeping the current flag" was the most common theme and represented 31.96% of comments. According to opposition MP Trevor Mallard this shows that the flag change process suffered from "total spin" and that the panel pushed to change the flag in breach of its mandate to be neutral.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Documents revealed that Flag Consideration Panel judge Julie Christie was a board member of the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) body "New Zealand Story" where she "had formally agreed to support the use of the NZ Way Fern Mark in any flag design". This fern design ended up as one of the shortlist entries. Christie had declared this as a potential conflict of interest but it was dismissed as minor.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: After the Flag Consideration Panel revealed the four shortlisted designs, some noticed that three out of the four designs coincided with prime minister John Key's personal design preferences. (3/4 contained a silver fern until the Red Peak flag was added) Thus, the panel was accused of being sycophantic and undermining their mandate to be neutral and democratic, which restricted the options available to the public and ruined the reputation of the whole process.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The National Business Review criticised the use of crowdsourcing to solicit flag designs that became publicly viewable on the government's website. Crowdsourcing processes have historically been inundated by unqualified participants submitting large numbers of very low-quality, plagiarised or malicious contributions that ignore standard rules and best practices, with a high administrative burden to identify which ones are legal and serviceable. Crowdsourcing has especially proved unsuitable for tasks that require training or expertise. For example, in an expert review of hundreds of photographs submitted to the news site NU.nl, 86% of submissions were deemed unusable and only one photograph was considered professional quality. In the case of the flag referendums, the flag solicitation process was treated as a joke by the public and garnered far too many amateurish and facetious proposals. These were openly viewable on the government's website and became disseminated and mocked on worldwide media, threatening the prestige of the whole process.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Commentators felt that the Flag Consideration Panel did not have the expertise to make any adequate flag design judgements, since none of its members had any credentials or experience in the fields of graphic design, art or vexillology. A spokesman responded that "it was considered that panel members did not need specialist skills in art, design, legal or intellectual property" and that consultation with experts would be sufficient. The panel stated that it consulted vexillologists and designers to ensure that the flags chosen were workable and had no impediments. According to journalist Grant McLachlan, the panel consulted a Nike shoe designer and not any vexillologists. Illustrator Toby Morris condemned the process as "design by committee" and noted that the structural issues were so obvious that he and other designers were able to predict the selections and outcome as soon as the process was announced. Some commentators suggested that the flags should have been evaluated only by professional designers. Nándor Tánczos opined that the Flag Consideration Panel denied the public a chance to choose their favourite designs by deciding on their behalf, since the public had no input or voting on the flag selection.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: Professionals have pointed out that the process ignored established best practices in the fields of market research, design and vexillology. Missing elements included clear research questions, artistic criteria, requirements elicitation, prototyping, monetary reward, direct public consultation on the longlist and shortlist selections, design iteration, deadline extensions and consideration of choice architecture such as randomisation. Those who criticised the use of crowdsourcing sometimes suggested that design professionals should have been given a core role in the creation of the flag designs. For comparison, the North American Vexillological Association's accepted flag design process also involves soliciting public design suggestions, but these submissions are seen only by design experts and vexillologists who then evaluate the entries and make necessary refinements or make new designs based on the suggestions.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: The flag design shortlist was met with negative response from most members of the public, professional designers and the International Federation of Vexillological Associations, with the selection labelled "a national disgrace" by writer Karl Puschmann and "tea towels of Kiwiana" by Gareth Morgan. The selection was lambasted as unappealing, clichéd, dull, superficial and too logo-like. There were complaints that the four initial designs did not offer sufficient variety, as only one did not feature a large silver fern dividing the field, and two were identical except for a colour choice, prompting accusations of groupthink and favouritism amongst the panel. For critics of the referendum process, the problems with the design selection confirmed the ineptitude they had long suspected of the panel. In hindsight, those analysing the reasons for the referendums' failure have posited that the quality of the official selection was so poor that it effectively prevented the possibility of a flag change. Some proposed that the outcome reflected the public's negative reception of the Kyle Lockwood design more than their underlying attitudes about flag change or national identity.


title: 2015–2016 New Zealand flag referendums

text: In September, the initial shortlist of four flags was amended to include the Red Peak flag after an online petition accrued 50,000 signatures. NZ First leader Winston Peters, former National Party official Grant McLachlan and others felt that instead of respectfully incorporating wider public opinion, this inclusion was an arbitrary deference to a trendy but unrepresentative social media campaign at the expense of established procedure and other, larger social media campaigns about the flag. McLachlan demonstrated that online signatures could easily be forged by recording himself signing the petition sixteen times and fraudulently impersonating members of parliament. They accused the campaign of having dubious credibility and chided the government for considering the petition without checking the details sufficiently.