The Orange

Seeing the Save Our Teams people are having so much fun, I’d though I’d start my own campaign.

It’s got to have a nice slogan – like “Save Our Teams” – so how about Otago’s Got Ta Go! From the Super 14 that is.

All the kerfuffle about the NPC and the teams that should take the drop have raised, at least in my strange mind, a different question – why the hell do we continue to put up with the Highlanders in the Super comp?

If the NPC relegation was based on performance this year alone, there would be a fair degree of ants in the kilts in Dunedin given that Otago is currently 5th from the bottom just one point ahead of Manawatu who are odds on to go down.

While you could possibly argue that the performance of Southland (currently 4th equal but fifth on for and against) mitigates the lowly position of Otago, it’s a pathetic effort for the base of a Super franchise.

More importantly, Otago’s performances in the Super comp doesn’t stack up either:

• 2009 – 11th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2008 – 11th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2007 – 9th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2006 – 9th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2005 – 8th and last of the NZ franchises
• 2004 – 9th and second to last of the NZ franchises
• 2003 – 7th and second to last of the NZ franchises

Based on the last seven years, Otago’s lucky it’s not a racehorse – it it was, it would be canned and Fido’s favourite.

Like my flat earth friends at Save Our Teams, there will likely be someone crying but look at Otago’s past record.

Sadly, the past has nothing to do with the present when it comes to sports teams.  Much of Otago’s successes in the 1980’s and early 1990’s came from the imports who played out of Otago University.  With the development of professional rugby and academies, Otago’s lack of quality players is woefully exposed as the players don’t need to pretend they’re at university to play rugby full time.

It’s no surprise to see Hawke’s Bay for example prosper in the professional environment when for many years their best and brighest went away to play first division and super rugby and many of those to Otago.

Off the field, Otago doesn’t appear to have the commercial support either although the replacement of Carisbrook creates a bit of a moral dilemma.

However, if it came down to performance, then the Highlanders should go north.

Yep, it’s official.  At the moment (until Winston Peter’s brother threatens legal action), the NZRFU is still threatening to drop four teams from the NPC.

Mind you, we won’t hold our breath because as Stuff tells us, the NZRFU have chickened out before:

It has happened in the past – the recent past even – when the NZRU bailed out, under threats of legal action, on its decision to downsize the top grade in provincial rugby.

However, don’t hold your breath because nothing is ever like it seems in rugby.

Talk about turkeys and Christmas:

“The reality is the unions came to us at the beginning of the year and said this competition is in trouble, none of us are able to pay our bills and collectively we’re going to lost $2.5-3 million this year across the 14 unions, on top of $3m last year and almost $4m the year before,” said Tew in an interview with Radio Sport this week.

“Everyone agreed we would not get a unanimous view on what the competition should look like – but we did get a unanimous view on what the key factors for a successful competition were and which we should apply to the decision.”

These included a desire to have professionals in it, so it couldn’t start till at least the end of Super rugby; protection of the club rugby window; the need for a full round-robin, and semifinals format; that midweek rugby was avoided; and that it would all be done and dusted by the end of October.

“You apply these factors and you end up with a 12-week window maximum, 10 teams takes up 11 weeks, and that’s where we’re at,” summed up Tew.

Funny that our mates over at Save Our Teams don’t mention any one of these points.

Why stop at 14 teams?  Why not have 21 teams in the first division.

Perhaps the problem is that only half the current comp is making any money:

Tew confirmed that seven of the 14 teams in this year’s Air NZ Cup had forecast a deficit and that the competition simply did not stack up financially in its current format.

If you really want to save our teams, take your medicine and cut four to save the rest.

Nice to see the Save Our Teams fanatics checking out the rest of the internet.

Big ups also to Kevin Hare who posted under his own name responding to my earlier post about Save Our Teams.

I’ve added their site to my blog roll – I don’t agree with them but it’s good to see some grass roots activity for a change.

Kevin makes a couple of points, first about the NZRFU choosing the size of the competition.

The NZRFU set up the 14 team Expansion. They Said it was always going to take 3-4 years to come right . IT HAS.

The reality was that the NZRFU had proposed a smaller premier division for all the reasons that are becoming evident now.  Under pressure and legal threats, the NZRFU showed all the bravery Italian armies are renowned for and backed down quicker than Shane Cameron.

To that extent, the NZRFU has only got itself to blame as if it had shown some balls (preferably adidas) a few years ago, it would never be in the pickle it now is.

The second point Kevin makes is about the local economies being impacted by the four teams being cut:

So As you see it is not Just TAKE The teams Away , If they Are moved out then the Crowds will twindle once again , People Won’t be WORKING on Match Day and Lastly as is the Common Theme we are hearing From ALL Provinces is this….

It Is Working Stop Putting $$$ ahead of RUGBY.

The problem of course is that the process was started by the same unions who are now crying wolf.  There isn’t the money in the comp to keep it afloat and NZRFU simply can’t stump up more.

The numbers are simple – say 25 players at a paltry average of say $40K and your average provincial union has to find a cool $1 million.  That’s a lot of hot dogs.

I have respect the provincial pride that many of these places have.  But provincial pride doesn’t pay professional wages and so long as the NPC is a professional comp (at least at the very top) then less is more.

Before I revisit what is becoming a pet topic, let me put my hand up to at least acknowledge I’m swimming uphill here.

I’m a Catholic in the Protestant sporting world so to speak (although as I understand it Orange is associated with the Protestants).

In any case, I have catholic sporting interests (which does not mean I play for Celtic or St Pats!).

My point is that I have a personally preference for league over union which could be seen to pollute my view of rugby as a game.

That may be the case but there does appear to be a considerable movement heading in the general direction of my own personal crusade.

(Don’t worry, I’m just about out of religious references!)

And it’s not just nameless, shameless two-bit bloggers putting the boot in.

Aussie Alan Jones (remember him – from when the Wallabies could win in NZ?) is talking about the demise of rugby union.

There’s a lot of issues facing rugby in Australia but in essence it’s dire (which is not the same as Greg Dyer!):

Supporters watch brilliant rugby every week at schoolboy and club level. But the wheels have fallen off at the next level.

We are boring people rigid.

Part of the problem with the Save Our Teams brigade is that they hark back to the amateur days but the game has gone professional:

I have long argued that in the professional era, to survive you’re going to have to play rugby that will make the turnstiles turn, or supporters will vote with their feet.

Well, supporters of Queensland, NSW, ACT and Perth Super 14 teams have done just that, in such a way that those franchises are losing big money on every game they play. And for the first time,  this year’s Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney was not sold out.

With respect, the only country not complaining in Sanzar is the one team that is consistently winning.

Meanwhile, Pommy rugby journalist Mick Clearly thinks rugby is rubbish:

Mates and colleagues tell me that the rugby has been ho-hum for the most part, rank at times and only occasionally worth a hill of beans. Why is this ? The laws ? The players ? The coaches ? The weather ? The salary cap, which means that the superstars are no longer with us ?

There is of course a rich irony in the Poms complaining about the loss of superstars when NZ rugby has been pillaged for the last few years.  Professional rugby has done NZ rugby little favours once the rest of the world went pro.

Clearly (ha ha!), there is a major problem – the first of which is that many rugby administrators simply haven’t adjusted to the needs of running a professional game.

When they do – NZRFU trying to keep a lid on the costs of the NPC – we get emotional responses such as Save Our Teams which is doing more to kill rugby that the laws.

Nevermind, in a couple of months the NRL will be back and we can watch some running rugby again.

I can see a few more posts coming up about the paring of the NPC.

For what it’s worth, i can’t see how the NPC can avoid dropping the four teams because the money just ain’t there.

The only possibility of 14 teams working would be as an amateur competition and we all know that won’t work.

Let’s no forget that while Northland threatened every possible legal action to avoid the drop, they also agreed that the competition could only sustain 10 teams.  Says it all for rugby administrators really.

At some stage, the NZRFU are going to have to give four teams the chop so let’s try and work out who they will be.  As we all know, it’s not performance that counts!

For starters, the Super 14 franchise bases will be safe – so that ring fences Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago.  For the record, i see no justification for Otago retaining a S14 franchise but that’s another story and argument.

Taranaki have enough going for them to be considered safe.  Hawke’s Bay’s success over the last couple of years should likewise have done enough.

So there’s seven who won’t be voted off the island to start with.

Let’s start from the other end.

The basket cases have to go – so that’s Counties-Manakau goneburger and almost certainly Northland (unless Peters threatens the mother of all legal cases).  It does help that both Counties and Northland are at the bottom of the table.

The next team up in 11th place is Manawatu.  They have cool fans (what gives with the buckets??), a lot of local support, and the Cruden factor.  But that most likely won’t be enough to save their butt.

That leaves the following (with the current ranking going into week 10):

• Southland – 2nd
• Bay of Plenty – 4th
• Tasman – 5th
• North Harbour – 12th

On performance, you’d really have to save Harbour deserve to go down but I seriously doubt the NZRFU has the balls (if they do, they will be adidas).

Southland and Bay of Plenty have performed credibly over multiple seasons while I suspect Tasman will pay the penalty for their financial meltdown last year.  That will of course create another problem with the almost certain dissolution of the Tasman union back to the traditional Nelson Bays and Marlborough which should at least please the flat earthers at Save Our Teams.

No surprises but my four to get voted off the island would be:

• Counties-Manakau
• Northland
• Manawatu
• Tasman

I’ve stayed away from the whole NPC death match until things become clearer.

Part of the problem is that the debate has largely been on emotional rather than any attempt to consider the issues in a logical manner.

Case in point:  Save Our Teams.

The site’s mission is nothing but worthy:

The NZRU Constitution clearly states, under Objects And Powers, that the union is to “promote, foster and develop rugby throughout New Zealand”.

So help us to preserve the Air New Zealand / Heartland Championship in its current format and to convince the NZRU that the smaller unions should not be axed…

Perhaps I can help with a modified mission?

To adopt a narrow-minded, blinkered, parochial and rose-tinted view of the NPC and go back to the future.

Naturally, the will want all ABs to play, all games played in the day, ohh and no TV coverage because that was what it was like.

The issue that these flat earthers consistently over look is who’s going to pay for it?

You can have all the heritage and history you want, but at the end of the day someone has to pay for it.

The same people who demand that the NZRFU keep 14 teams in the NPC are likely to be the same who demand that the AB’s play in the NPC instead of touring the UK … when they earn the money to pay the NPC wages.

Save our teams?  Save your breath.