New Zealand Rugby a new sense of reality?

I don`t know what other NZ fans think here but I have been reading the NZ sports pages with interest.The ITM cutting out unprofitable midweek matches makes sense a slighter longer season compensating.Although I consider advertising on the All Black tacky and sacriligous
the money raised means perhaps less tests being played.The 3rd Bledisloe played for two seasons in a neutral Country to spread the word OK but now its just a cash cow.With the extended Super Season and injuries toll this year ALL the SH sides need to reduce the match numbers
player burn out is getting more and more common.The Universal Season for both Hemisphere`s looks unlikely to happen,the current squabbling
about Heineken Cup etc. and the have and have nots in the NH turns me OFF.I lost interest in Soccer when half a dozen Clubs had all the money and literally bought trophies.The Screaming about UK based Clubs etc being unable to compete with top14 wages Rugby is going the same way.Top 14 was only 55% players qualified for France now under residency laws poaching promising players for the French National side is a real possibility.

We need the sponsorship to more than just limit the pressures on the number of games the national side plays. It appears that it will mean that the AB's wont have to play the number of games they played this year again, and that we can support a women's team, hold age group competitions again and change the format of the ITM cup. Hopefully it also means we can retain players and support staff. I saw the impact on my kids this year, when we lost our club development officer (Inoke Afeaki) mid season overseas. A good ex professional, with his own kids. lost to the club, region and NZ because we couldn't compete with overseas offers. All the club teams were all poorer for the loss of his personality, skills and understanding of the game.

I think we still have an advantage, in terms of out administrative model. We operate in a global free market as a single organisation. It allows us to maximise our potential to a much greater extent than other nations. The financial support of AIG should give us the independence to support club rugby, provincial rugby, age group rugby and womens rugby as well as 7's, super 15 and AB's for the short term.

It gives us a chance to retain players and staff from increasing competition from overseas clubs and unions and rugby league. Not only does it enable us to punch above our weight, it's probably sustained our game despite natural disadvantages. I think a pure professional club based approach would have seen the decline of our national game by now. It also helps us that that European rugby is inefficient, has hamstrung their major national teams and inhibits regional growth. We also don't have the same issues as our RC competitors (Argentina - amateurism at home, Australia - no national competition and the power of RL, and South Africa - independent provinces).

Slight off target rant. AIG's sponsorship is probably a lifeline.

I don't see this as a new zealand reaility only, it is a reality for everyone.

Precisely Biltong hence my comments 10 matches would be adequate the 4Ns a July 2 Match Tour with mid week provincial games[incoming] similar AI`s 2 Tests plus a couple of mid week games for the stiffs.

France may well do it but NZ have been doing it for years. Please don't give me the residency laws and how many PI's were born and bred in NZ. Education scholarships etc soon get them wanting to paly for NZ rather than their Island home. Money talks no matter what hemisphere you are in, but don't forget you will not see advertising on the French national shirt:)

Which one. The dark, dark blue Nike one or the dark blue Nike one or the traditional blue Nike one.

In the end the shirt is just a shirt. As long as its in black and it has ABs on it it doesn't matter if it is sponsored or not.

The only people it matters to are sentimentalists (doesn't mean I'm not one of them). The players and future players won't give two hoots over it.

In years to come people will ask you what all the fuss was about.... its not like the IPL where they are selling the rights to even shots.

As long as the IRB don't start sponsoring individual methods of scoring.... a Heineken Try or a Fedex drop goal then I'll be content with the extra money in the game being used to fund areas which are struggling under professionalism.

The only worry is wages.

How much of the new money will go on salaries alone???

20 yrs ago the best paid players in the Premier League in the UK was guys like Alan Shearer on 10-15K a week. Nowadays its 200K+.
Regardless of inflation thats a huge increase.

Chairman have gone from having personal wealths of a few hundred million to those who now have tens of billions.

The cost of football to the general public has increased significantly... in reality just to pay the players more. Money hasn't filtered down to the grassroots, more likely its become more polarised.
The quality of the sport, training etc doesn't seem to be that much better either... players may be fitter but their skillsets are certainly worse.

I just would hope rugby safeguards against this route.

The Salary caps in ENG are a good thing. I hear teams want to pay more but keeping a cap keeps salaries being inflated beyond control and allows clubs to spend more of their money on other club aspects such as their academy. If not agents will just continue to bump up salaries.

Def drop the 3rd Bledisloe, no passion in that game, it is for cash and few home supporters in the ground. My 2c worth... which I will donate to the AB's pot

My comments on the top14 and the wages cap was really NOTHING to do with the mythical PI poaching.THAT has been done to death here BUT it is a fact 55%of Top 14 players are only qualified for France.
The Top14 is what Real Madrid and Italian Clubs were paying players compared to UK,When our clubs just could`nt compete .
Top 14 will eventually implode as Clubs try to compete more and more and go bust.My concern is more and more Wales and England are going for cash to France.
My concern is that many players are not available for the National squads to train or play for there Countries.
The PI one will run and run,MOST players capped for NZ of PI were born,or moved to NZ at an early age.SOME may have been showing promise at a later
age but they are the minority.
How is that different from NH pl aying fully developed players in there teams THEY are as numerous or more so than NZ or Oz.
Just a few examples Jamie Salmon,Shane Howarth,Thomas Waldron,Riki Fluety,
the Lineen Brothers,and soon Sean Maitland and Jared Payne.
Sadly I have digressed from my main point the qualification rules are the same for all.
My concern is that to many Test matches are played or indeed First Class matches for the good of the players.
Injuries getting over them are shortening or ending them prematurely the argument that is just a job now is very real .
A few will earn megabucks abroad rather than relative peanuts at home market forces rule.
No One can blame a player for putting security for him and his family first but
there really should be a level playing field world wide.

I always feel any game will ultimately reflect the ambitions of those at the top. the direction of the English game will be interesting to watch.

I remember when the stewardship of the RFU was taken from the blazers by Francis Baron, an out and out businessman who spent his whole time as CEO creating subsidiaries and joint ventures. Admittedly he took the RFU from the point of bankruptcy to the richest union in the world but his real legacy was summed up by a contemporary as, "he's done an amazing job commercially but the rugby's suffered".

So he was ousted and ultimately replaced by John Steele, a rugby man. A winner of the Heineken Cup with Northampton. A man of whom it was said by Martyn Thomas, the Chairman of the RFU Management board when Steele was appointed,

"Nobody was able to match his unique combination of a background in and knowledge of rugby and a high profile administrative role in sport. We fully believe he is the right man to take the RFU forward in its next stage of growth as we prepared to host the Rugby World Cup in 2015 and for the legacy beyond that."

He didn't last long because by the end of 2011 the RFU were at it again. Looking for a new CEO they must have had a rethink on the rugby credentials and reverted to the Baron model because in their job advert they asked for a person with,

“substantial and proven success as a chief executive, managing director or general manager in a FTSE 350 or significant private company, preferably operating in a consumer facing business with significant P&L and balance sheet accountability”.

..and they got one! Admittedly Ian Richie has some sporting background having been the CEO for the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club for six years but I think his previous 30 years experience in business and media carried a bit more clout with his selectors.

So he is now in charge of the biggest union in the world who are to host and run the next World Cup. I, for one, look forward to seeing which aspect of his remit will be at the fore, commerce or rugby. I am not holding my breath for rugby!

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Which one. The dark, dark blue Nike one or the dark blue Nike one or the traditional blue Nike one.

You really want to go there with the size of the Adidas badge on the New Zealand shirt?

I don't mind it. I don't have an issue with the AIG sponsor either, although I would prefer it to be another sponsor. But I don't have an issue with advertising. My point was France has enough money not to have jersey sponsorship but is still susceptible to its jersey manufacturer's whims.

Now with the AIG logo on the jersey, does anyone else think that Adidas is far less prominent?

If the NZRFU can get a couple of sponsors into a "Dutch auction" for places on the jersey then maybe this form of income can be really maximized.

As Biltong said it isn't only a problem for NZ but for most established Rugby Nations and most established sport. The problem with the amount of money in football is that the further from the 'real world' players salaries reach the further from reality they become IMO. I don't want a Rugby game where player refuse to shake hands after a match because they have such a sense of self importance!

It may sound harsh but I really don't like where professional football in England has gone in the last 30 years when it's such a great sport. I don't want to see rugby (or Cricket with the ipl for that matter) slide the same way.

King Carlos, I agree with you I was passionate about Cricket as Rugby at one time.BUT the 3/5 day game was the real thing,whites proper strokes etc.when the one day limited overs came in started losing interest.
Now 15 or so over game in Coloured Pyjamas has reduced a game once loved
to the status of the village green.
Each is great in it`s place but NOT at international level do they still have Cricket Tours?
The money generated by advertising the AB shirt has gathered is being invested in the NZ game.NZ has always built from the bottom up that is the correct way
NOT a few Billionaires investing in Clubs,buying all the best players world wide etc.
It maybe of little importance if SA,Argentina.PI,or UK players go into top 14
because they are still available for there country.
A NZ /Aus player ceases to be available once he has left the country a stand I heartily applaud.
There was a time when after years of service to his side,a player of 30plus would go abroad for a pension.
Now it is early 20`s etc.

emack2, I'm beginning to agree with you re the short forms of the game in cricket without a doubt. Fortunately England currently put Test's above all else and as such have developed a very good Test side. It's heartbreaking to see the position Indian test cricket's in due in no small part to the money young players get offered for 20 over cricket there.

I agree 20 over is great in it's place but not when it starts dominating the calendar to the detriment of the other formats. Yes, cricket sides still tour but many are being reduced to fewer test and more one day stuff; often to the extent that fans are upset when the Test series' end early then get bored during the one day games. Ah well back to rugby though!

On the shirt sponsorship I don't honestly know too much about the situation but found it very odd news when I first heard NZ had gone down that route. Having spent a year coaching in NZ I can't really claim to be an expert on the system but the quality of players in the age groups is exceptional. Coaches there teach young players to play in the right way and enjoy themselves.

Above all else the thing I loved is all the team ethic is built around pride in the shirt you get to wear which is a very understated thing nowadays in some sports. With players moving to clubs often through money rather than wanting to play for a certain side that view of pride in the shirt could be lost to club rugby.

On the no overseas based player rule as it's been in place for a long time in Aus/NZ I think it works very well there. It's a very hard rule to introduce in European clubs though as has been seen by Wales' struggles against it and Englands odd 'special circumstances' clause which basically says we want you to stop doing this but wont actually put any effort into stopping it! It's definitely a shame that player such as Luke Macalister seem a little lost to International rugby when if they'd hung around a couple of years in the S15 he could have been a great Int player.

I am someone who considers the SHIRT above money,especially an AllBlack one.I consider what has happend as sacrilige BUT understand the realiities extra cash.
Means in NZ that besides helping the grassroots things like Womens Rugby,7`s and most important the Maori`s/Juniors can again be fielded.
Cost meant that a Second level or A Level side could`nt be afforded,also that
less Tests like the 3rd Bledsiloe can be abandoned.
When I was talking about the players in residence rule I was really only thinking about SA.
Also tho ugh understandable overworked players having sabbaticals abroad hardly helps the player only his Bank Balance.
A Sabbactical on the lines of Ritchie McCaw is more sensible.