Thursday, April 08, 2004
All (Sold Out) Blacks
Rather than slowing down with the selling out of the All Black "brand" (as they like to call it), name and history it seems the NZRFU is hellbent on destroying all the mystique ever associated with the jersey as quickly as possible.
The All Blacks will finish their season against the Barbarians at Twickenham, a match in which they have been guaranteed a multi-million-dollar fee.
For some time the New Zealand Rugby Union has argued they deserve improved commercial benefits because of the spectator appeal of the All Blacks.
Thats all very interesting given the amount of people (experts included) who were discussing how with all these poor performances and the fact that Aussie has been beating us consistently for ten years that the All Blacks are losing/have lost that spectator appeal and image that they once had. Note that when I say "spectator appeal" I am not referring to the number of bums on seats at their games as they will always attract sell out crowds 90% of the time. Rather I am referring to the spectators reasons for going changing from "I'll cry if we lose" to "should be a good excuse to sink a few beers and watch a big game".
Twickenham is seen as a goldmine for England because the ground is generally sold out and runs lucrative hospitality packages.
As it says, Twickenham sells out for all sorts of games, including the England v Wales game a few weeks back. This is the same Wales team who loses approximately half of all their games against all sorts of mediocre teams. When you have a city of roughly eight million people sitting next to the stadium you could sellout 3 or 4 All Black tests back to back so hell why not just turn both sides into club teams and play there every bloody day?!
It seems the NZRFU has become totally obssessed with money since the sport 'went' professional and the players put up with the games because they get a fair slice of the cut as well. But does anybody actually give a sh*t about the results anymore?
All Black test matches are becoming like one day cricket internationals. What was the All Black score v Australia, England, Wales, Scotland, South Africa the second to last time the two teams met? As I eloquently put it a few lines ago and repeat once again for those who skim read these posts when they really should be absorbing every letter of every word in order to be fully brainwashed...who gives a sh*t?
The games have simply become money grabbers by the authorities and the public shell the bucks out because they believe the hype. The NZRFU obviously uses the money they have to pay players now in order to keep them in the country but that is a pretty pathetic reason for destroying the All Black image long term. If Japan wants to buy 137 of our top players then let them. We can just choose our team from their club comp instead of ours. If we have hundreds of players grabbing wads of cash in overseas clubs there and in Europe then again I say, let them. All it will serve to do is weaken those nations national teams and so long as the NZRFU ditches its ridiculous stance over the non selection of foreign based players then NZ will be creaming it on the pitch and at the bank.
Take a look at the Brazilian soccer team. If they only selected players who were based in their domestic league then they probably wouldn't even qualify for the World Cup let alone win it. In Korea alone there are about 30 Brazilian strikers earning buckets of cash and getting overseas experience and when they leave it allows a new tier of strikers to move up and take their place.
There is enormous depth in NZ rugby now, not because the NZRFU have become magnificent at running the game, but rather because Joe Bloggs plays a few games for the AB's and then sods off and because there are so many games now that players drop like flies or just plain get dropped.
anyway back to what I started rambling about...
Meanwhile, the IRB has confirmed its schedule for tours here up to 2012.
After the Lions make a 10-game trip next year, the All Blacks will host Ireland (two tests) and the Pacific Islanders in 2006, France (two) and Italy in 2007, England (two) and Ireland in 2008, Wales (two) and Argentina in 2009, France (two) and England in 2010, Scotland (two) and Italy in 2011, and England (two) and Wales in 2012.
We see here that Wales are scheduled to come to NZ twice in the eight years following 2004. Ireland, France and Italy will do the same, while England will come four times in the next nine years (I would expect NZ to play either full tests or Barbarian matches at Twickenham in nine out of the next nine years based on recent times).
That's nineteen tests against Northern Hemisphere opposition from 2005 to 2012. Given the number of times any team from the northern hemsiphere tours NZ we should go there and play TWO games per year, NOT FOUR TESTS EVERY BLOODY YEAR!
Has anybody in the Northern Hemisphere realised that planes have made massive cuts to travel times and that they don't have to spend three to four months sailing the high seas to get down under anymore? I guess so since they started coming to NZ from the 1960s onwards when they each played their first tests in NZ. Can you believe that?! The 1960s!!!!
For the record here is the number of tests (in NZ, away for the AB's and neutral) that NZ has played against each of the northern hemisphere teams.
v England 8/16/1
v France 19/19/2
v Ireland 5/11/1
v Italy 2/3/3
v Scotland 10/12/2
v Wales 5/11/4
for a combined 49 tests in NZ, 72 away and 13 at neutral venues.
Thank Allah that the Lions have played 35 tests in NZ. At least they worked out how to get here when all the wisest heads were put together.
Quite frankly I couldn't really care about the outcome of the tests anymore. Of course I still like to see them play good football but when they play that often (and still go 5 years with an awful lineout) its verging on meaningless to me.
I'm far more interested in the fortunes of Waitemata in the Auckland club comp. Finally we got a 28 year monkey off our backs last year and won the Gallaher Shield. Here's hoping for a repeat. The biggest crowds they've had in years are showing up to watch football which hasn't sold itself off to the highest bidder as the club refuses to pay any player.
The All Blacks will finish their season against the Barbarians at Twickenham, a match in which they have been guaranteed a multi-million-dollar fee.
For some time the New Zealand Rugby Union has argued they deserve improved commercial benefits because of the spectator appeal of the All Blacks.
Thats all very interesting given the amount of people (experts included) who were discussing how with all these poor performances and the fact that Aussie has been beating us consistently for ten years that the All Blacks are losing/have lost that spectator appeal and image that they once had. Note that when I say "spectator appeal" I am not referring to the number of bums on seats at their games as they will always attract sell out crowds 90% of the time. Rather I am referring to the spectators reasons for going changing from "I'll cry if we lose" to "should be a good excuse to sink a few beers and watch a big game".
Twickenham is seen as a goldmine for England because the ground is generally sold out and runs lucrative hospitality packages.
As it says, Twickenham sells out for all sorts of games, including the England v Wales game a few weeks back. This is the same Wales team who loses approximately half of all their games against all sorts of mediocre teams. When you have a city of roughly eight million people sitting next to the stadium you could sellout 3 or 4 All Black tests back to back so hell why not just turn both sides into club teams and play there every bloody day?!
It seems the NZRFU has become totally obssessed with money since the sport 'went' professional and the players put up with the games because they get a fair slice of the cut as well. But does anybody actually give a sh*t about the results anymore?
All Black test matches are becoming like one day cricket internationals. What was the All Black score v Australia, England, Wales, Scotland, South Africa the second to last time the two teams met? As I eloquently put it a few lines ago and repeat once again for those who skim read these posts when they really should be absorbing every letter of every word in order to be fully brainwashed...who gives a sh*t?
The games have simply become money grabbers by the authorities and the public shell the bucks out because they believe the hype. The NZRFU obviously uses the money they have to pay players now in order to keep them in the country but that is a pretty pathetic reason for destroying the All Black image long term. If Japan wants to buy 137 of our top players then let them. We can just choose our team from their club comp instead of ours. If we have hundreds of players grabbing wads of cash in overseas clubs there and in Europe then again I say, let them. All it will serve to do is weaken those nations national teams and so long as the NZRFU ditches its ridiculous stance over the non selection of foreign based players then NZ will be creaming it on the pitch and at the bank.
Take a look at the Brazilian soccer team. If they only selected players who were based in their domestic league then they probably wouldn't even qualify for the World Cup let alone win it. In Korea alone there are about 30 Brazilian strikers earning buckets of cash and getting overseas experience and when they leave it allows a new tier of strikers to move up and take their place.
There is enormous depth in NZ rugby now, not because the NZRFU have become magnificent at running the game, but rather because Joe Bloggs plays a few games for the AB's and then sods off and because there are so many games now that players drop like flies or just plain get dropped.
anyway back to what I started rambling about...
Meanwhile, the IRB has confirmed its schedule for tours here up to 2012.
After the Lions make a 10-game trip next year, the All Blacks will host Ireland (two tests) and the Pacific Islanders in 2006, France (two) and Italy in 2007, England (two) and Ireland in 2008, Wales (two) and Argentina in 2009, France (two) and England in 2010, Scotland (two) and Italy in 2011, and England (two) and Wales in 2012.
We see here that Wales are scheduled to come to NZ twice in the eight years following 2004. Ireland, France and Italy will do the same, while England will come four times in the next nine years (I would expect NZ to play either full tests or Barbarian matches at Twickenham in nine out of the next nine years based on recent times).
That's nineteen tests against Northern Hemisphere opposition from 2005 to 2012. Given the number of times any team from the northern hemsiphere tours NZ we should go there and play TWO games per year, NOT FOUR TESTS EVERY BLOODY YEAR!
Has anybody in the Northern Hemisphere realised that planes have made massive cuts to travel times and that they don't have to spend three to four months sailing the high seas to get down under anymore? I guess so since they started coming to NZ from the 1960s onwards when they each played their first tests in NZ. Can you believe that?! The 1960s!!!!
For the record here is the number of tests (in NZ, away for the AB's and neutral) that NZ has played against each of the northern hemisphere teams.
v England 8/16/1
v France 19/19/2
v Ireland 5/11/1
v Italy 2/3/3
v Scotland 10/12/2
v Wales 5/11/4
for a combined 49 tests in NZ, 72 away and 13 at neutral venues.
Thank Allah that the Lions have played 35 tests in NZ. At least they worked out how to get here when all the wisest heads were put together.
Quite frankly I couldn't really care about the outcome of the tests anymore. Of course I still like to see them play good football but when they play that often (and still go 5 years with an awful lineout) its verging on meaningless to me.
I'm far more interested in the fortunes of Waitemata in the Auckland club comp. Finally we got a 28 year monkey off our backs last year and won the Gallaher Shield. Here's hoping for a repeat. The biggest crowds they've had in years are showing up to watch football which hasn't sold itself off to the highest bidder as the club refuses to pay any player.
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