blogging it real

Not nice referring to Clive Woodward like that is it?!

So he's off to coach Southampton. Well that'll end in tears I'm afraid. Can anybody think of successful coaches to cross sports?

I'm thanking my lucky stars that he's not coaching Newcastle United. Though it could just about be as bad if they sign Gerard "heart attack" Houllier. Bluebeardnz was most happy to see the back of him at Liverpool but you guys still suck so it really doesn't matter I suppose.

If anybody is interested:
On Saturday, Otahuhu Elerslie are playing the North Harbour Tigers at Ericsson in one semi final of the Bartercard Cup at Ericsson Stadium's number 2 ground at 2:30. The winner will take on the loser of the Marist Richmond Brothers v Mt Albert Lions with the winner of that game going straight into the final. It will be the curtainraiser to the Warriors game on Sunday. Kickoff is at 11:35 and it's also on Sky TV.

Meanwhile in Auckland club finals football Manurewa will play Richmond as the curtainraiser to the Otahuhu v North Harbour game and Mangere will play Mt Albert to decide the team who goes straight into the final.

NZ rugby league sure is concentrated in and around the Auckland region still. It's a bit of a shame.

In the 'nationwide' Bartercard Cup 9 of the 12 teams are from the greater Auckland region. And several of those teams have strong sides in Auckland club football as well. Only one of the top 5 was from outside the region (Canterbury) and they were eliminated in week one of the playoffs.

Also on Auckland club football specifically the once mighty Te Atatu Roosters who won the national club title in about 1990 are now in the playoffs in the 2nd division in Auckland. That's a big fall and in fact it's a better spot than they've been in in the last few years. I haven't been able to follow the scene as much as I used to but I wonder if the playing strength is any better than it used to be. The competition sure has changed a lot structurally. It seems to make a bit of sense though I think they should look at two divisions rather than three. I've always liked that system better and I don't see how there shouldor could be 3 levels of ability within one city made up of teams all in ajoining suburbs.

The Bartercard Cup is a good thing for the game in NZ but it's a shame that there aren't say 6 teams from the Auckland region and 6 others spread over the country. Canterbury has just one team when two would be better. And Wellington also has just the one team when they should really manage to have two. The Waikato region also has a team and it would be good to see one other sustainable team from perhaps Otago or the central North Island.

Anyways, let's see what happens after the weekend shall we?

Oh and prepare yourselves. sweatepz is about to fire off his/her/their/it's first blog.