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
The 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….
76 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
1 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
9 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
12 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
9 Go to commentsIts a great idea but one that I dont think will have a lot of traction. It will depend on the prestige that they each hold but if you can do that it would be great. When Japan beat the Boks (my team) I was absolutely devestated but I wont deny the great game they played that day. We were outclassed and it was one of the best games of rugby I have seen. Using an idea like this you might just give the the underdog teams more of an opportunity to beat the big teams and I can absolutely see it being a brilliant display of rugby. They beat us because they planned for that game. It was a great moment for Japan. This way we can remove the 4 year wait and give teams something to aim for outside of World Cup years.
9 Go to commentsHi, Dave here. Happy to answer questions 🥰
9 Go to commentsDon’t think that headline is accurate. It’s great to see Aus doing better but I’m not sure they’ve shown much threat to the top of the table. They shouldn’t be inflating wins against the lousy Highlanders and Crusaders either.
3 Go to commentsSuch a shame Roigard and Aumua picked up long term injuries, probably the two form players in the comp. Also, pretty sure Clarke Dermody isn’t their coach. Got it half right though.
3 Go to commentsOh the Aussie media, they never learn. At least Andrew Kellaway is like “Woah, yeah it’s great, but settle down there guys” having endured years of the Aussie media, fans, and often their players getting ahead of themselves only to fall flat on their faces. Have the “We'll win the Bledisloe for sure this year!” headlines started yet? It’s simple to see what’s going on. The Aussie teams are settled, they didn't lose any of their major players overseas. The Crusaders and Chiefs lost key experienced All Blacks, and Razor in the Crusaders case, and clearly neither are anywhere near as strong as last year (The Canes and Blues would probably be 3rd & 4th if they were). The Highlanders are annually average, even more so post-Aaron Smith and a big squad clean out. The two teams at the top? The two nz sides with largely the same settled roster as last year, except Ardie Savea for the Canes. They’ve both got far better coaches now too. If the Aussies are going to win the title, this is the year the kiwi sides will be weakest, so they better take their chance.
3 Go to commentsThe World Cup has to be the gold standard, line in the sand. 113 teams compete for what is the opportunity to make the pool stages, and then the knockout games for the trophy. The concept is sound. This must have been the rationale when the World Cup was created, surely? But I’m all for Looking forward and finding new ways for the SH to dominate the NH into the future. The autumn series needs a change up. Let’s start by having the NH teams come south every odd year for the Autumn/Spring series games?
9 Go to commentsWhat’ll happen when the AI models of the future go back in time and try to destroy the AI models of the past standing in their way of certain victory?
41 Go to commentsThanks, Nick. We (Seanny Maloney, Brett and I) just discussed Charlie as a potential Wallaby No 8, and wondered if he has truly realised how big he is in contact (and whether he can add 5 kg w/o slowing down). Your scouting report confirms our suspicions he has the materiel. No one knows if he has the mentality (as Johann van Graan said this week about CJ, Duane and Alfie B) to carry 10-15 times a game.
57 Go to commentsHe would be a great player for the Stormers, Dobbo should approach the guy.
3 Go to commentsGood article. A few years back when he was playing for the Cheetahs, he was a quiet standout for exactly the seasons stated here. I occasionally get to see his games in the UK, and he has become a more complete player and in many ways like an Irish player. His work ethic is so suitable to the Leinster game. I wonder if Rassie would have him listed somewhere.
3 Go to commentsResults probably skewed by the fact that a few clubs have foreign fly halves in their 30s, but most teams have young English scrum halves. Results also likely to be skewed by the fact that many teams rely on centres and fullbacks to provide depth at 10, whereas they will need to stock a large number of specialist backup 9s.
2 Go to commentsI really get the sense that when all is said and done, the path of least resistance will end up being a merger of Wasps & Worcester that essentially kills the Worcester Warriors brand and sees Wasps permanently playing at Sixways. I’m not saying that’s what should happen or what I want to happen. I just think it’s the easiest rout to take and therefore, will be what happens. Wasps will definitely return to play first, and I suppose it all depends on if they can find support at Sixways. If people turn up and support Wasps in that community, at that ground, I bet they drop the Sevenoaks plan and just remain at Sixways. Under the radar but not totally unrelated, it looks as though London Irish are going to be brought back from the dead by a German consortium and look set to return, likely to the remade Championship. It’s set to have 12 clubs next season with 14 in 2025/26, what do you want to bet those extra 2 are Wasps and London Irish?
3 Go to commentsThe shoulder is a “joint” with multiple bones. You don’t “fracture” a shoulder, you fracture any one or more of the bones that make up a shoulder.
2 Go to commentsOh dear, bones too suspect to continue?
2 Go to comments