All Things Rugby - Union and League

I feel sorry for Brisbane sports fans - particularly those who are fans of the funny shaped ball.

You see two Saturday nights in a row I have been to a packed Suncorp Stadium - the first for the Bledisloe Cup, and the second for the Broncos vs Storm NRL semi-final.

I feel sorry for those home fans who paid a couple of hundred dollars to get to see both games - and see both home teams lose.

Ok, when I reflect on a glorious victory by the All Blacks, that feeling soon disappears!

The Greatest Day in NZ Sport?

Yesterday was perhaps the greatest day of all time in New Zealand sport - at least it's the greatest day in a long time. Kiwi's quickly jump all over their sports stars when they don't perform, so I thought I would recognise the great achievements of Saturday 16th August 2008.

Firstly, New Zealand won 5 Olympic medals in one day for the first time ever - 2 gold (1st Olympic gold in track and field in over 30 years), 1 silver and two bronze. It's certainly our greatest ever Olympic day.

While in South Africa, the All Blacks kept the Springboks scoreless in a test at home for the first time ever. It's hard enough winning in SA, without even considering keeping them scoreless.

And to top it off the New Zealand Warriors had a win in the NRL propelling them into finals contention.

I can't think of too many other days that would rate higher in NZ sport! It's a great day to be a kiwi!

The (Rugby) Boot's on the Other Foot

Recent news reports suggest that Rugby League in Australia is in disarray, because Rugby Union is "poaching" players from the NRL.

There's 2 points I have to make about that:

1. Pay your players more - Sonny Bill is worth more than $200,000 per season. Unless the salary cap is increased it will keep happening.
   
   
2. Now the boot is on the other foot, the NRL don't like it. It's not that long ago that Union players were being poached by cashed up league clubs.

Don't get me wrong, I do like league, but when the administrators and coaches get paid more than the players then there's a real problem. In the words of SBW, "The fans don't turn up to see David Moffit".

Living in a non-Rugby land

It may be hard for the average Kiwi to understand, but there are actually some places that the world doesn't revolve around rugby.

Yes, I'm not kidding - it's true. Queensland is one of those mythical places.

Australia had a fantastic win over the All Blacks in the weekend, and it went barely unnoticed. I'm sure most of the population here was unaware it was even on.

Queensland is league country. They eat, sleep and breath league. If Darren Lockyer is injured the whole state goes into mourning.

There's also barely a mention about AFL here. Even the NRL league news from NSW rates higher than the Brisbane Lions here.

I went to the Broncos vs Sharks at Suncorp in the weekend. There was a disappointing crowd there - just under 30,000 when most of the games this season have been closer to 40,000.

The test at Carisbrook in Dunedin a couple of weeks ago had 29,000 and everyone was wrapped about the huge crowd that attended.

I bet some of the NZ Rugby franchises wish they could get anywhere near 30,000 for a club game - most struggle to get that for even a semi-final match.

The worst thing for me about living in a non-Rugby land is that the Air New Zealand Cup isn't even on TV here. How can I survive!

Wallabies 34 - All Blacks 19

What colour does a mourining All Black supporter wear? I can't wear black... Maybe it should be Green and Gold?