Biggest brand in NZ sports - NZ Herald article

[Matua]

I'm more talking about the media. Compare the identities in both. Union takes itself very, very seriously. Union doesn't have Buzz, or Gordy Tallis, or any other meat heads like that.

Ah, I don't care about that stuff, in both sports I switch on the game at kick off and turn it off once it's done. I can't watch those types of shows anymore.

So, I'm not the best person to judge that. When I did watch those shows Buzz just seemed like the old guy at the pub just chatting away even when it mostly seemed bollocks.

 

[Big Marn]

Yeh i cant be bothered with pregame either for union and league. I dont even watch the halftime chat.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Ah, I don't care about that stuff, in both sports I switch on the game at kick off and turn it off once it's done. I can't watch those types of shows anymore.

So, I'm not the best person to judge that. When I did watch those shows Buzz just seemed like the old guy at the pub just chatting away even when it mostly seemed bollocks.

Yeah I actually don't watch them either...but they all contribute to the hype around the game, along with podcasts, social media, news media etc.

I do enjoy the podcasts around player movement, discussion of incidents and all that, although now that I don't have a commute to work, I struggle to find the time.

One thing I do not have any time for is the match previews where some expert tells us who will win, like anyone has any bloody idea. Willie Mason said a few weeks ago that the Tigers were a good chance in Melbourne and they lost by 60.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

Yeh i cant be bothered with pregame either for union and league. I dont even watch the halftime chat.

And in NZ, it's almost physically impossible to watch. It's too painful, our Warriors coverage. But yeah, it's all rubbish. Especially the player interviews at halftime, coaches etc, why they bother with that is beyond me.

Fox don't do bad in terms of pre-game but again yeah, it's pretty meaningless

 

[Manurewa_Marlins]

Union presentation and production is far too sterile. The same old shit.

Sky NZ's league pre/half/post game coverage is cringe as f**k.

The common thread, is Sky.

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Union presentation and production is far too sterile. The same old shit.

Sky NZ's league pre/half/post game coverage is cringe as f**k.

The common thread, is Sky.

And the lack of competition gives them no incentive to change either.

9 and Fox are constantly trying to one-up one another, so journos are always digging for scoops and rumours, tv producers are always trying to attract more eyeballs, and both camps are always sniping at each other.

Plus I think Aussies are generally just more comfortable with less-filtered opinion and confrontation than us typically more reserved Kiwis. I mean these very forums are a microcosm of that.

But it all adds up to - as many have described - pretty sterile coverage in NZ compared to Aus.

 

[Blair]

...If the Warriors go down early in the weekend the NRL is pretty much dead to me...

You're in good company there.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

Have you been hanging out with Aussies too much? Rugby isn't dominated by private schools. State run boys schools dominate the comp, the best league school currently St Thomas is closer to being a private school than most winners of the Top 4.

I’ve seen you say this a few times (basically that there’s no Union/League class divide in NZ?) and I can only say it doesn’t match with my experience living in Auckland for 40 years, or my understanding of the history of the games here.

Union is obviously not a ‘posh’ game in NZ per se, it’s too widely popular for that - but league is certainly firmly working class and below in a way that Union isn’t and maybe no other sport is, really.

 

[Matua]

I’ve seen you say this a few times (basically that there’s no Union/League class divide in NZ?) and I can only say it doesn’t match with my experience living in Auckland for 40 years, or my understanding of the history of the games here.

Union is obviously not a ‘posh’ game in NZ per se, it’s too widely popular for that - but league is certainly firmly working class and below in a way that Union isn’t and maybe no other sport is, really.

You note that rugby is too widely popular for it to be the posh game, ergo, it has all walks of life, including those who are working class, which is my exact point. But, I was responding to a specific point about rugby being dominated by "private schools" which it most certainly isn't.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

You note that rugby is too widely popular for it to be the posh game, ergo, it has all walks of life, including those who are working class, which is my exact point. But, I was responding to a specific point about rugby being dominated by "private schools" which it most certainly isn't.

Not private schools, necessarily, but definitely private and single-sex 'exclusive' schools. It's great that Botany Secondary College and Liston etc are in Auckland's 1A, but the dominance of the top 4 - Kings, St Kent's, Grammar and Sacred Heart - is ever-present, and the same single-sex or private schools are the ones dominating national competitions.

The flow-through rate of players that aren't from those schools to club rugby - at least in the major regions - is becoming more and more non-existent. School numbers at non-prestigeous schools is dropping, too.

Rugby is run by these people. League, at least if I'm talking about in Sydney, is not.

 

[Thatwasnthighref]

Not private schools, necessarily, but definitely private and single-sex 'exclusive' schools. It's great that Botany Secondary College and Liston etc are in Auckland's 1A, but the dominance of the top 4 - Kings, St Kent's, Grammar and Sacred Heart - is ever-present, and the same single-sex or private schools are the ones dominating national competitions.

The flow-through rate of players that aren't from those schools to club rugby - at least in the major regions - is becoming more and more non-existent. School numbers at non-prestigeous schools is dropping, too.

Rugby is run by these people. League, at least if I'm talking about in Sydney, is not.

FWIW, Kelston was won 1A 3 of the last 4 years.

And those other private school teams include a high proportion of kids on scholarships.

So even if the schools themselves are more 'high-brow' the underlying demographic of the actual kids playing is still very much working class.

 

[Manu Vatuvei]

I guess for me, whether it's "widely popular sport vs sport of the working class and underclass" or "sport of the elites vs sport of the working class and underclass", it's splitting hairs a bit because there's still a class divide, and there's still a history of snobbery and discrimination from the higher-class sport. To the extent it exists ("why are you leaguies always complaining about union?")I don't understand the impulse to deny this.

 

[Penrose Warrior]

FWIW, Kelston was won 1A 3 of the last 4 years.

And those other private school teams include a high proportion of kids on scholarships.

So even if the schools themselves are more 'high-brow' the underlying demographic of the actual kids playing is still very much working class.

Very true on the last part. I guess I'm more talking about admin wise.