Posts by Kyle Matthews
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Maybe we need a proper approach to deciding on what a Maori flag needs to be, and perhaps at the end it will be Tino Rangatiratanga, or maybe another design will emerge.
The whole flag issue really feels like cart before the horse to me. Of a million issues that could be sorted out under the heading of 'biculturalism', we get the symbol. Sure, symbols have meaning, but not much flows from this.
I couldn't get up in arms about this particular flag either way. I'd like to think that at some stage that Maori will need to stop waving a flag that is associated with protest and resistance. Flags should be forever, and should be about more than that. I'm not seeing that day on the horizon yet.
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To be honest, my biggest issue with 10 is that the next division down only has 6 and it seems like a big waste of time.
Yeah, but I think that's the result of only bringing two up. And mergers that have happened over the past decade or so reducing the number of teams in the competition. 10 feels like a good number for the top level - 4 or 5 games a week, about 300 contracted players.
It all seemed like a good opportunity to look 10, 15 years out and define a good competition that was financially sustainable, had a good structure, pushed players to achieve at higher levels, brought in new talent, maintained public interest etc.
I can't see any of those things from here. All that's in my head is four unions battling their national body and lawyers and a lack of vision.
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And Guptill seems to be our new wicket taking slow bowler. It might be arse-backwards, but it works for me.
Leading wicket taker. in the innings. Makes no sense, but a cracker of a game on.
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New Zealand probably isn't supporting 14 professional rugby teams anyway, or at least not 14 teams where all members of the squad are paid a full wage. The teams like Hawke's Bay are semi-professional; Michael Johnston is a builder when he's not playing - he only took a year off from that when he got a Hurricanes contract in 2008.
Yes precisely. Ten teams would be more viable (actually 12, as there's two whole teams of All Blacks who can't play NPC.
If the number of NPC players was to get closer to the number of super 14 players that would also help. Currently you might get a contract for 5 months for the NPC. Then you have to go do something else for the rest of the year. Super 14 players get a full year of work and don't have to have another half of a career.
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Splitting the premier division into two pools immediately shortens the season & presumably that helps to save money, so that's the two big aims of the revamp sorted isn't it?
I'm not sure if it would. There's presumably a base contract rate which players get whether the season is 10 or 14 games long. What costs more, 14 teams at 10 games, or 10 teams at 12?
I do despair the lack of long term vision in the (non) changes. NZ just isn't big enough to support 14 professional rugby teams, particularly in a competition that basically has no all blacks.
However it happened, and whoever went down, cutting it down to 10 makes sense, this competition is going to continue to lose money as long as it stays this size.
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Vettori as head of NZRU...
Good player, who through over-diversification of duties over time has lost touch with his core competency.
Perfect fit.Meh. He'd make the team on his batting. In fact he'd make the team twice over on his batting given some of the batsmen who make the team.
And Guptill seems to be our new wicket taking slow bowler. It might be arse-backwards, but it works for me.
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The fallacy with Tolley arguing that she has a 'mandate' (her words) to bring in this policy in wake of the election is that I doubt that very many voters were thinking of this particular election promise of last year. Nowhere, on the ballot, is there a proviso that says, " I will vote for you buggers because of this particular election promise" nor " I will vote for you buggers, except for this particular issue".
You could say that about every single thing that the government does or doesn't do. We don't vote for policies, we vote for MPs and parties as a whole. As Craig points out, this isn't testing by stealth.
Promised at the election or not, it's just crappy policy. Lets play that ball rather than claiming it's not democratic.
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I see only one way out of this: make Dan Vettori the head of the NZRU. The boy is a born multi-tasker.
That's good, because I've already promoted him to halfback for world cup 2011.
And Dunedin needs him down here to be double sure that our stadium gets finished on time.
And then he's doing helm duty on Team NZ.
Bring on Guptill to knock out two weekends? Legend.
(Drunk people once told me I looked like him).
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As for the relationship to being Commissioner, he has the statutory power to take command at any incident.
And the year this last happened at any incident involving physical competency? Probably not even during the springbok tour did the commissioner 'man the pumps'. Power to take command at any incident doesn't mean that he'll be jumping through windows or dragging bodies or climbing walls or any of the other things that the PCT simulates. It's command.
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Fail it? He'd have to take it first. Officers above Inspector, I think it is, are not required to take the physical competency assessment.
I'd wonder about that. I did the physical competency test in 1993 (I was so young then, the scale of time that you have to get under didn't even go down to my age, but I passed under what a 19 year old would require), and at the time a deputy commissioner had just finished taking it. I'm sure my dad took it above inspector, but he's been out of the NZ police for a few years now. It's to an extent voluntary I think, the police had legal problems making it a requirement of the job to pass. Part of the promotions and bonus payments?
Having done it, its relationship to being Commissioner of Police is nil.