Public Address | Cafe | Field Theory: It's the Super 14, baby!

Yamis

Sun, 26 Apr 2009 09:54:01 +1200

Problem is that people are complaining about the rules now but in actual fact if you were to watch some old tapes of games from the 80s and 90s you'd slit your wrists. It is a problem now with forwards not comitting to the breakdown because the breakdown is over…

Paul Williams

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:22:02 +1200

And while I'm at it, I'd say the best venue in Sydney is the North Sydney oval. I understand some pre-season AFL games are played there as are Shute Shield games (club rugby) – I watched a number of the ICC Womens' World Cup games there.

Paul Williams

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:15:16 +1200

LegBreak, that extends to most Eastern Bay restaurants as well as those on the Harbour.

I'd highly commend going to a AFL game at the SCG, very highly. In fact, I'd recommend not watching AFL on tele until you'd seen it at a stadium. It's actually a damn fine game…

LegBreak

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:02:30 +1200

Isn’t the SFS for a Warratahs game the place to be seen if you’re on your way to a restaurant in Double Bay?

Paul Williams

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:22:10 +1200

Whenever we drive past the comically hectoring Hurricanes billboard with all he players lined up ("We will be there – will you?") we take turns answering: "Nope".

Now look here Mr Tiso, I'd love to be a regular at the 'Canes games but have to content myself with the occassional…

Kyle Matthews

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:00:27 +1200

Wouldn't that just move as well?

LegBreak

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:41:15 +1200

The problem with swapping around the NPC and S14 is the effect on club rugby.

And, right now, that’s probably my favourite.

Hadyn Green

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 15:25:07 +1200

The most interesting thing about the Super 14 is the uniforms.

Don't tempt me

giovanni tiso

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:33:17 +1200

Yes, you're not going to convince the northern emisphere nations to tour here in November. I see merit in swapping the NPC and Super 14 around though.

Kyle Matthews

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:20:58 +1200

League is just starting their comp and I can join in and feel like I'm engaged, same for Netball but the Super 14 comp, why bother it's almost over already.

Also the rugby season in NZ is the wrong way around.

We start with the higher level competition (Super 14),…

Naly D

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:09:46 +1200

it's too early for Rugby.

Club rugby season now finishes just as the grounds are getting good. I love playing, but I hate having a big fuck-off blister where the stud is by my big toe on both feet for the rest of the week.

Of course, if I were…

Bart Janssen

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 14:02:13 +1200

Ok on a more serious note.

I don't think there is much wrong with Super Rugby in terms of the rules. There will always be some dicking around with the rules as admins adapt to improving player skill and technology. It is actually a better game now than it used…

Naly D

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:38:22 +1200

@Daniel Wilton
I can't help but completely disagree. The only problem I have with the actual rugby at the moment is that forwards aren't having enough to do. I first noticed it with my club team, but now that I've picked it up I can see it in S14, internationals…

LegBreak

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:35:51 +1200

The most interesting thing about the Super 14 is following who’s been misbehaving.

Interesting contrast between rugby and Phoenix. A rugby crowd can be 3 times the size of the Phoenix yet somehow manage to generate 10% of the atmosphere.

Not sure where rugby has gone wrong. A combination of…

Daniel Wilton

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:05:17 +1200

The games weren't fun to go to anymore; the crowds were pathetically small and disengaged from the game happening on the paddock and there were too many breaks in play which interupted the flow – maybe rugby has been taking a cue from American football or gridiron.

Two Refs simpler…

Bart Janssen

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:01:43 +1200

The most interesting thing about the Super 14 is the uniforms.

giovanni tiso

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 12:01:00 +1200

I have also become bored with Super rugby. After loyally buying three stadium tickets every year since the Westpac Stadium opened this year I gave it away

Whenever we drive past the comically hectoring Hurricanes billboard with all he players lined up ("We will be there – will you?") we…

Francis Wevers

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:58:09 +1200

I have also become bored with Super rugby. After loyally buying three stadium tickets every year since the Westpac Stadium opened this year I gave it away – too much money for too little value. The games weren't fun to go to anymore; the crowds were pathetically small and disengaged…

Daniel Wilton

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:41:29 +1200

My father loves to rant about what is wrong with rugby. We had massive yarn about it while at the Singapore Gran Prix last year (oops name dropped, anywho)

His thoughts were divvy the Ab's up around the country, I know that logistically this wouldn't work, but you could stop…

Jimmy Southgate

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:20:59 +1200

And no sponsor is going to front for a team that has a chance to disappear down to the 2nd division and therefore off TV.

Well, likely no international sponsor – but local ones might stick around. For years Hawke's Bay were sponsored by a local company.

Your concern is…

Jimmy Southgate

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:18:07 +1200

Teams such as B.O.P. Hawkes Bay and Northland are not composed of solely professional players.

Thats very true, many of the Hawke's Bay team were only semi-professional. Michael Johnson was a builder, and only stopped when he got a call up to the Hurricanes last year. Now that he didn't…

Kyle Matthews

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:14:01 +1200

My understanding of the sponsorship structure is that only top teams have secured multiyear deals with their sponsors. The teams that are at the bottom of the competition have revolving sponsors (including B.O.P's string of failed finance companies) As far as the wages go most of the top players wages…

Jimmy Southgate

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:02:26 +1200

I think our administrators would probably do well to have a look at competitions such as the Scottish Football Leagues, or even the English Football Leagues (sans Premier). This would let them see how promotion/relegation can work where there are vast differences in funding between teams at the different levels.…

Daniel Wilton

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:54:55 +1200

And, I say this as an amateur sports administrator, how can you run a province which jumps between amateur and professional competitions? One year you need to sign a bunch of players to contracts and find lots of money to pay them, the next year the contracts are player agreements…

Kyle Matthews

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 10:14:47 +1200

Automatic promotion relegation for the bottom and top 2 teams in each division

I fail to see how promotion/relegation is going to work in a professional/amateur split competition.

1st division is professional, 2nd division is amateur. There is a large rift between the abilities of the two divisions and this…

Daniel Wilton

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:56:59 +1200

Super Rugby get rid of it.

Super Rugby is a waste of space it is flawed in that it offers token recognition to the junior partners of the franchises (how many tasman based all blacks ever played an NPC game?

The first issue is the Arrogance of the NZRU saying…

Naly D

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:48:47 +1200

these things have never changed

No, but petrol prices have.

Yamis

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:42:11 +1200

You make some good points Naly but

The fact that the Blues play their games two hours after peak traffic time on Fridays. This means that workers, if they want to get changed etc, have to sit in traffic, go home, get changed and leave straight away. Oh and the…

Tim Michie

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:11:34 +1200

Fewer players (whether from the top overseas or coming up through the ranks) versus NZRU forming a product attractive to sponsers is the heart of the issue I think. More player then more interchangability between Super 14 and NPC, less need to reliance on the same faces/bodies and then recovery…

Naly D

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 09:07:36 +1200

I think the media, NZRU, SANZAR and unions have been approaching the 'problems' facing rugby incorrectly. I like to think [and have been telling a few people lately] that there's three tiers of problems.
A. Problems with the game
These are things like;
* The fact that there is no…

Tony Kennedy

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 22:18:47 +1200

No Super rugby = no professional rugby in NZ, the NPC would only semi pro at best, To earn a living top players will head off shore, so it would be either:

a semi pro all blacks (i.e. not even remotely the best players) or none or very few all…

Yamis

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:11:54 +1200

Aussie rugby in the past was based around two average teams pulling together to try to beat NZ sides picked from several strong sides and the results generally spoke for themselves. It was a bit like the Kiwis v the Kangaroos. Now the playing field is a lot more level…

Kyle Matthews

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 19:08:53 +1200

But that's because the NPC is Tier 2 rugby; if it goes back to being Tier 1, presumably it'll get more like Tier 1 money?

It's 3rd tier rugby. Super rugby is the second tier.

Keir Leslie

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:32:32 +1200

We need to face facts though. When the NZRU signs broadcasting deals it is based on (off the top of my head) 60% being for AB games, 30% for Super rugby and 10% for the NPC. Going old skool may make NZ rugby fans feel nice for a while but…

Yamis

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 18:02:04 +1200

Well the NZRU basically have two options in front of them. One is to go hell for leather with a similar franchise based international competition like now only supersize it (which is what they were trying to do before).

The other is to either completely ditch it altogether or have…

LegBreak

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:52:12 +1200

David Cormack,

So well said.

And that wound was reopened last week when it transpired Henry wrote a letter to the courts praising that Mr. Veitch because he was nice to him.

Who do these people (Team All Black) think we are????

David Cormack

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:35:12 +1200

trusted that should be

David Cormack

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:34:31 +1200

All these ideas are well and good but what it comes down to for me personally is that I trust Graham Henry and invested an awful lot of emotion in him and the 2007 World Cup. I'm still coming to terms with it.

For me, watching Rugby is like seeing…

Keir Leslie

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:19:33 +1200

I think that instead of attacking the NPC you should prioritise it --- refashion the Super competition into a international provincial competition like the Champions League and run it concurrently with the NPC (travel will be difficult, but if you ran it every other week it wouldn't be too bad.)…

Kyle Matthews

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 16:08:38 +1200

Wait, the rugby season starts next week doesn't it? I'll get excited about it then.

Super rugby in its current format surely should be coming close to a decent restructure. South Africa have prioritised their Currie Cup, surely it's time to ditch them and they can play European teams, and…

Mrs Skin

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:55:40 +1200

They could always try marketing to their new-found fanbase.

Otherwise they could have a go at fixing what's wrong. I know sweet FA about rugby, but it strikes me that the G9 have a point.

For me it's about community. I'd be more inclined to go out and support a…

Jimmy Southgate

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:28:40 +1200

To be honest I agree with the G9 folks; but then i've long been more excited with the NPC than Super 14. I think it might have coincided with the launch of the new era of the NPC & the inclusion of Hawke's Bay.

I liked the proposal that came up…

Public Address

Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:28:40 +1200

Discussion from blog post.