NationStates Jolt Archive


NMS/Archregimancy Cup of Harmony Bid

New Montreal States
08-09-2005, 03:53
The NMS and the Archregimancy are pround to announce their bid to host the upcoming Cup of Harmony:

CUP OF HARMONY HOSTING BID

NEW MONTREAL STATES AND THE ARCHREGIMANCY

Welcome. Here at the New Montreal States Ministry of Morale and the Monastic Football Association of the Archregimancy, we’re excited to be bringing you a bid to host the Cup of Harmony that not only reflects the rich heritage of Nationstates international football, but is also the first ever all-Orthodox hosting bid. Our mission is to provide world-class footballing facilities in a brand-new footballing context while also celebrating our shared rich international footballing heritage.


WORLD CUP HERITAGE
First of all, with the 25th edition of the Nationstates World Cup soon to be upon us, what better way to celebrate our shared footballing history than returning an Official WCC tournament to the Dreamed Realm for the first time since World Cup 2? That’s right, for the first time since Alasdair I Frosticus hosted the second World Cup, nations in ordinary physical reality are being invited to cross over to the Dreamed Realm to play in the Archregimancy, an autonomous monastic republic under the overall control of the Holy and Puissant Empire of Alasdair I Frosticus. Thus while the Archregimancy is a comparatively new participant in international football, it has strong links to a nation that hosted one of the first two World Cups and co-founded the original World Cup committee. Which is by no means to ignore the rich footballing heritage of our partners and co-hosts New Montreal States! While only recently returning to international action, NMS were prominent in the middle years of the tournament, finishing fourth in World Cup 11. Finally, in further recognition of international football’s roots, we plan on re-introducing – on a strictly limited basis – an element of regulatory randomness not seen since the earliest days of the tournament! [ooc – see ooc scorinating section at end of bid]


TOURNAMENT STRUCTURE
The Cup of Harmony shall consist of 16 teams initially arranged in four groups of four, labelled groups 1,2,3,4. The teams shall play each other once, and be awarded three points for a win and one point for a draw. The top two teams in each group shall advance to the quarterfinals; the winner in group 1 shall play the second-placed team in group 4, the winner of group 2 the second team in group 3, and vice versa. Where teams are tied on points, they shall be divided first by head-to-head results, then by goal difference, then by goals scored, and failing that by the toss of a coin. Groups 1 and 2 shall be based in the Archregimancy, and groups 3 and 4 in New Montreal States. The opening match shall be in the Archregimancy and the final and third-placed matches in New Montreal States; knock-out stage games will be shared equally between the two, with the group winners staying in the country first round matches were played in.

Should fewer than 16 teams participate, we have the following plans:
14 teams - 2 big groups of 7 (one group in each nation), with 3 teams each advancing. The two group winners get byes, the other 4 play each other, with 2nd place in one group facing 3rd in the other. Winners go play the group winners, and then we have our finalists.

12 teams - Two groups of six (one group in each nation) with 2 advancing from each

8 teams – Two groups of four, otherwise as above.

The teams invited to the Cup of Harmony will be those who have best reflected – and care most strongly about – the harmonious brotherhood of international football in the recent World Cup qualifiers [ooc – see ooc invitation section at the end]


TOURNAMENT FACILITIES

NEW MONTREAL STATES –

The Ministry of Morale has selected four stadiums for use in the Cup of Harmony. These stadiums are used by the NMS Major League of Football.

The first stadium is Chateauguay Field in Chateauguay along the northern coast of the States, home of EF Chateauguay:

http://www.globalstadia.com/campo_hajduk.jpg

With a capacity of 50,000 people, this will serve as a stadium for group 3 teams. The stadium itself is located at the edge of a peninsula jutting into the ocean, and has an estimated 8000 hotels rooms to serve both the stadium and a nearby convention center. Ferries and a recently completed monorail would link spectators with the downtown area as well as provide a scenic view of the city.

The other group 3 stadium is Eagle Stadium, home of the Repentigny War Eagles (here depicted during field mantenance):

http://www.stadiumsofnfl.com/nfc/lincoln253.jpg

Eagle Stadium holds 35000 people, and has a central location between Repentigny and its sister city of Laval, being located about 15 minutes from the center of both of these historic cities.

Hull Pitch, home of the Shooting Stars will be used for some group 4 games:

http://www.globalstadia.com/campo_columbus.jpg

The Pitch is the smallest Major League stadium in the States, with a capacity of 25000 people. Stadium personnel are used to dealing with capacity crowds, as the Shooting Stars have a streak of 20 straight sellouts going.

Finally, the home of the NMS Paladins, the national football team as well as the New Montreal Patriotes, the Paladin Dome:

http://newmontrealstudios.envy.nu/Paladin.html

Here depicted facing the southern half of the city of New Montreal, the Paladin Dome is the historical center of NMS football. Built for World Cup 10, it was recently renovated for World Cup 24, and seats a whopping 150000 people. Its specially designed roof augments sound, making a sellout crowd an awe-inspiring sound and making even modest turn-outs sound louder than sellouts in most stadiums. It will be used for the final and third place games of the CoH.




THE ARCHREGIMANCY –
The Archregimancy will provide four stadiums for the tournament, all but one the home stadiums of namesake teams in the national Monastic Football League

The first is Pantaleimon:

http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/MonasteryImages/panteleimonos/EXTERNAL%20VIEW.JPG

The exterior of the monastery’s waterfront stadium, with its characteristic green dome over the south stand, can be seen at right foreground. It usually sits 20,000, but capacity will be extended to 30,000 for the tournament – it will host Group 2 games.



The second stadium is St.Sergius-Holy Trinity:

http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/Monasteries_and_Churches/Russian/1.jpg

This exterior shot of what is usually considered to be the most attractive home ground of any Monastic League team shows both the monastery and – at left middle ground – part of the southeastern corner of the south stand and east terrace of this 25,000 seat stadium, including the graceful belltower that rises up above the home supporters. St. Sergius-Holy Trinity will host Group 2 games.



Our third stadium is in the beautiful far north of the Archregimancy – Solovetsky, home stadium of national team coach Kyrill, Metropolitan of Solovetsky:

http://www.naturalist.ru/Solovki/w100-solovki01.jpg

The red roof of the famous East Terrace of Our Lord Ruler Over All can just be seen behind the monastery walls to the left. The stadium usually sits 18,000, but will be extended to 30,000 for the tournament, where it will host Group 1 matches




Finally, there’s the Dreamed Stadium itself, at the Archregimancy’s capital of The Grand Lavra. Here’s a picture of our capital as it usually appears:

http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/MonasteryImages/great_lavra/AERIAL%20VIEW%20(C)%20KEDAK.JPG

The Dreamed Stadium – when dreamed into existence – is always placed over the open fields on the upper left of this image. When this photograph was taken, we had just dismantled the Belly of Jonah’s Whale used for the recent World Cup Qualifiers. For the opening match of the Cup of Harmony and Group 1 games, we propose to replace the Belly of the Whale with something a little more soothing for visiting supporters: a perfect replica of the 80,000 capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground:

http://www.astaonline.com.au/images/MCG%20CAD%20image%5B1%5D.jpg

Further details on the bid will be provided by the Archregimancy, as I've hit some kind of image cap on Jolt.
The Archregimancy
08-09-2005, 05:03
The bid continued....

TRAVEL AND TOURISM FACILITIES


VISITING THE ARCHREGIMANCY:

Travel to the Dreamed Realm is difficult, but conditions will be eased for the Cup of Harmony. Our monks will build five portals in each qualifying nation, and up to 30,000 supporters of each team will be permitted to travel to the Archregimancy. Portals will also be built to allow for direct travel between NMS and the Archregimancy. Once in our nation, tourists will have a choice of accommodation, whether in the guest quarters of our scenic monasteries:

http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/MonasteryImages/simonos_petra/m13.jpg

Or perhaps in a bed and breakfast in the farming villages around the Grand Lavra:

http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/MonasteryImages/karyes/karyes_from_koutloumousi.jpg

In an Archregimancy first, these B&Bs will also be made available to the female supporters of visiting teams. We do ask, however, that female supporters not enter the monasteries except during the football matches.


The more adventurous guest might like to stay in one of our famous mountain hermitages – an experience unlikely to be quickly forgotten:

http://www.orthodoxphotos.com/Monasteries_and_Churches/Meteora/Rousanou/5.jpg


While the Holy Synod of the Archregimancy promises not to actively seek to convert visiting fans to the Orthodox faith (though equally, we won’t not talk to anyone who asks for more information), tourists will also have the opportunity to visit many of our most Holy Sites, such as the Archregimand’s private chapel:

http://www.macedonian-heritage.gr/Athos/MonasteryImages/karyes/PROTATON%20INTERNAL%20VIEW.jpg


Surely even the most militant atheistic communist or heathen Excelite cannot remain unmoved when faced with such beauty!


VISITING THE NEW MONTREAL STATES:

Each of the host cities offers numerous attractions off the pitch to complement the action on it. In Chateauguay, visitors are able to tour the city and the historic Chateau Brevard on Brevard Island by ferry. A re-enactment of the battle of Chateauguay, a 18th-century naval assault on the Chateau, is planned on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the battle. A pleasant day spent strolling through the small museums and galleries of the Waterfront district followed by a delightful supper at one of the area’s many fine dining establishments is sure to delight even the most demanding traveller.

Repentigny and Laval, located on opposite sides of the mouth of the Laval River, rival each other in the variety of attractions they offer. The International Zoo in Repentigny showcases over 250 different national animals from around the world, and constantly offers interactive exhibits of the home terrain and natural lives of these animals. In addition to this, the Artist’s Quarter offers the most varied jazz scene in the NMS, with new musicians and works on offer every evening in a variety of small theatres and cafés. Once you tire of Repentigny, walk across the historic Stone Bridge to Laval to watch anything from Shakespeare to Beckett in one of the most cosmopolitan theatre scenes in the world. Or, perhaps, you could spend an afternoon watching a mock medieval tournament at Lancer’s Green, with real jousting followed by a sumptuous banquet to finish the night off.

The main attractions of Hull aren’t so much inside the city as just outside of it, with the lakeside resorts of Royal Springs just two hours drive from downtown. Enjoy a spa treatment and a nice relaxing trip to the beach at the springs, or hike the Outaouais Trail and witness the splendor and variety of New Montreal wildlife. Perhaps you could hire a guide and strike off across the back trails of the region and enjoy the solitude while communing with nature.

The city of New Montreal has too many attractions and sites to even begin to list here. It offers everything you’d expect of a national capital of 25 millions souls. For a complete listing of its delights, both temporal (a night out in downtown, or a journey through the giant maze built on St-Auban green) to spiritual (a visit to St-Jean cathedral, or perhaps the unique spiritual experience of the Monastere St-Elizabeth, located on the top floor and roof of the tallest skyscraper in the city), please contact the New Montreal Bureau of Tourism, which will be happy to send you a guidebook free of charge.


CONCLUSION:
This bid has it all. History, heritage, novelty, and new frontiers. State of the art facilities in timeless settings. And we very much hope to be able to welcome the international footballing community to our respective nations for the next Cup of Harmony.


Bid Partners:
The New Montreal States Ministry of Morale
NMS Major League Football
The governments of the various host cities in the New Montreal States
The Monastic Football Association of the Archregimancy
The Holy and Puissant Empire of Alasdair I Frosticus
The Holy Synod of the Archregimancy
The (Autocephalous) Orthodox Church of New Montreal



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OOC 1 – SCORINATION
In keeping with our mission statement, we plan on using modern scorination techniques while also recognising the rich and vibrant heritage of Nationstates international football.

For all knockout stage games and all but three first round games, we propose using the same scorination system used by Druida and Krytenia for World Cup 24 in order to acknowledge the World Cup’s present

In recognition of the World Cup’s past, and to celebrate the 25th edition of the World Cup (where this probably couldn’t be done without howls of complaint – but we think it can be done appropriately in the Cup of Harmony), a single randomly selected match on each of the three matchdays of the group stage will be scorinated using dice. That’s right, dice. We’ll use the same system used in WC 2: rolls of 1-4 are taken as read; 6 is read as zero; 5 is rolled again, and the result of the second roll taken as read (thus, the second time around, 5 and 6 mean 5 and 6). Obviously this system wouldn’t bear scrutiny if applied to the entire tournament, but used as a random element for three first round matches only, we think it both adds a little spice and serves as a nostalgic tribute to those early tournaments!



OOC 2 – INVITATIONS
There are sixteen available places. The hosts take two of these.

The remaining spots will be filled by those nations who didn’t qualify for the World Cup, but who sent the most – and best – posts to the RP thread. The demise of Shearer Heaven saves everyone from a dilemma that was never going to be that difficult to solve anyway.

At present, we intend to invite the following teams:
New Montreal States
The Archregimancy
Lowland Clans
Hypocria
Harlesburg
Casari
Chicanada
Ruventsoria
Popular Freedom
Oliverry
Kaze Progressa
Bettia
Hockey Canada
Milchama
Praying2God
Elrich

We currently have one standby: Naleloospalakintula (who posted one more time than Lowland Clans, but didn't do as well in qualification)