Mark Keown

Yet more of rugby's problems spring to mind. 15. The absence of free to air broadcasts: another problem is that lack of rugby on free to air. Some would bemoan this and say that if you are serious you would get sky. Well it is $64/month to get sky. That is a lot for a family like ours with three teenagers with all the costs and the costs of life. Currently what is there is on Prime and not all get it and if your place is like ours, the reception sux. For rugby to hold NZ's interest it must be the sport of the people, available to all, free. A slight delay is not an issue if that keeps Sky happy. But it has to be there, for people to view. This has the effect of people losing touch with the game. The teams of full of names they do not know. The shift from Super 14 to NPC becomes confusing for the fringe supporters and other interests take that place. Knowing the players, knowing the teams are basics. 16. Night rugby: night rugby is supposed to enhance crowds, but does it? In the...

More on rugby crowds and the problem with rugby. 12. Violence, feminisation and injuries: another issue for rugby generally is the injury toll and physical challenge of the game. This is a turn off to many moderns in an urban western situation. Women in particular often do not want their kids to play the game. While the game has been cleaned up it is still essentially physical and confrontational and this is a turn off for many. 13. Disappointment: the failure of recent AB rugby teams at world cups has not helped the image of rugby. Loyal fans will die for the game but the fringers find it tougher and tougher to support a team that blows it. 14. Disillusionment with professionalism as it is playing out in NZ rugby: I cannot see why the ABs have to be rested for tournaments, have weeks off, reconditioning bla bla bla. We need to get into the real world of professional sport and realise that being a professional athlete will involve a long season of earning one's money. It is a job. ...

The discussions of the last few days relate to the crowd sizes at rugby games which are down on previous seasons. I am not surprised at all. I think that there are good reasons for the decline in interest in many urban centres 1. The Stop Start Nature of the Game: The scrums continually collapse. The break down is a constant disaster. Time is continually wasted with line outs, scrum resets, discussions between the ref and players, TMO decisions, discussions between refs and lines men, injuries upon injuries. The game must be sped up with far less time spent fluffing around with line out calls, injuries etc. 2. The Congestion of the Game: Rugby players are faster, fitter, stronger and able to last longer with contemporary fitness models. Yet the fields are the same size, the number of players the same, and the game is a 22 man game rather than a 15 man game. The game used to break open due to fatigue but can not do so with two even fit teams. The fields could be enlargened, the number o...