Coronavirus impact could force NZR to hit the reset button
Covid-19 coronavirus could be the re-making of rugby in New Zealand.
Frankly it needs to be, because the game’s going to go broke in the meantime.
Aidan Ross of the Chiefs
Proclamations are overtaken by actual events every five minutes at the moment, but it seems pretty safe to say Super Rugby is a goner for 2020. At least in an external sense.
Likewise, the All Blacks’ planned fixtures against Scotland and Wales, followed by The Rugby Championship, surely can’t go ahead. We all understand that SANZAAR, and their constituent partners, need rugby to resume as soon as possible, but it’s hard to see how that would be feasible or even in good taste.
Many of us take what we read and see and hear with a grain of salt these days. To be really honest, we probably even ignore it entirely, safe in the knowledge that the person telling the story is exaggerating or a halfwit and maybe even a flat out liar.
It’s why the suspension – and probably soon to be cancellation – of so many sporting competitions has come so suddenly and so shockingly. We all assumed this coronavirus thing was just another Y2K bug or similar and certainly nothing that would affect us personally or the codes we followed.
Instead, we’ve got a genuine pandemic on our hands, which various governments appear to be late comprehending themselves. People are dying in big numbers – and appear likely to continue doing so – meaning sport is hardly a priority.
Problem is for SANZAAR, New Zealand Rugby (NZR) and all the rest of them, is that games pay the bills. Everyone’s finances are stretched to the limit and when the money stops flowing, because nobody’s playing or attending footy, then things are going to get pretty desperate pretty quick.
Get ready to go hyper-local, then.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B9u4943A3fX/
There’s no way NZR can let months pass idly by here. It’s impossible to know what a safe or respectful hiatus is, but you assume we’ll get live rugby back on TV within maybe four or five weeks.
That’s likely to be just New Zealand’s Super Rugby franchises for starters but, in time, there’s every reason to suspect club, schools and provincial footy will all receive significant airtime too.
We’re forever told there’s no market for New Zealand rugby. Sure, we far prefer watching our own rather than, say, South African or Australian Super sides, but it’s not financially sustainable.
Fair enough, but here’s a chance to change that. To fix a model that’s broken anyway and create a demand for our own product.
Can you honestly see the All Blacks travelling the world this year and having other sides tour here? Not at this rate.
So if there’s going to be rugby, then it’s going to be the sort that we older folk grew up with and which doesn’t feature teams who fly in from hither and yon.
Will it be able to pay for itself? The honest answer is maybe and depends to a large degree on just how bad this pandemic gets.
Put it this way: we might never see stronger demand for New Zealand rugby ever again.
Things need to change and, more than anything, players need to accept wages far more in keeping with what the rest of us make. These guys were bankrupting the game long before coronavirus and we haven’t even seen the worst of that yet.
People in this country like to profess their love for rugby. They like to dub it our national game and to revel in the performances of players from nursery grade level right on up to the All Blacks.
Well, an opportunity is coming to make that a reality again. To celebrate the New Zealand game and to develop a model that might sustain it through pandemics, global financial crises and whatever else.
The short-term effects of coronavirus could be really grim for all of us, let alone the good folk who play and administer rugby. But what emerges in the aftermath might be the best thing to happen to rugby in New Zealand for many a year.
Leon MacDonald joins The Breakdown to discuss the Blues:
Comments on RugbyPass
Ben Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
19 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
19 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
9 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
9 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
28 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
19 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
28 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
19 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
86 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
4 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
9 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
19 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to comments