NZRL will block the Aus v Tonga Test

[Burns]

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/nz...e-kiwis-clash-prominence-20180811-p4zwwm.html

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New Zealand Rugby League officials have torpeoded plans for an Australia-Tonga Test in Auckland - because they don't want the clash to overshadow the Kiwis.

The blockbuster between the Kangaroos and an Andrew Fifita and Jason Taumalolo-led Tonga has gone from the bright lights of New York to potentially not being played at all.

A decision on whether the game goes ahead will be made in the next 48 hours, and it ultimately rests with the NZRL.
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Why would you do this?

NZRL are worried that Test against Australia will be overshadowed.

A few things:

1) You cannot buy tickets to the Test Match in Auckland yet. There isn’t a venue announced either but the article says Mt Smart?

2) If NZRL were that concerned on their own profile in New Zealand, why not play Tonga instead of Australia in the first place? Would generate 100x more interest than another match (they’ll get flogged in) against Australia.

3) They could take a cut in profits from a Aus v Tonga Test?

On the ARLC:

1) That holding a Test in Auckland is easier because the players are already there is a flimsy excuse. Not as of the Australians can use a plane.

2) If they are concerned on ‘capacity’, then have the Test in Australia. Play it as Campbelltown again, wherever - just make it happen.

 

[Leber]

If the nzrl were concerned with their own profile, maybe they should have thought about that before losing to fiji and tonga.

 

[Warriorsoul]

Just wondering, how can the NZRL "torpedo" this test match? I mean, if the ARL and Tonga want to play a test here, book a venue and go nuts. Not like NZRL has any clout whatsoever

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

Kidwells cock up of losing Taumalolo continues to ripple through the Kiwis with this one.

See, back in the days when Tonga we're easy beats, NZRFL had nooo problem with the Aussies playing the Tongans. Now that Tonga is a tier one team, NZRFL see the implications I spoke of last year and now all of a sudden have issues that we're all somewhat privy to or we theorize about anyway.

 

[sup42]

lol @ the NZRL trying to make the earth flat again.

Well done Chicken Manure.

First they wouldnt play the Tongans and Samoans because there was no money in it.

Then they run scared from a Tongan challenge.

Now they are trying to tell two sovereign nations what they can and cannot do in a free country.

Biggest pack of idiots in the history of sport....no one wants to go back to waiting seventy years before NZ deems fit to play Samoa...no one wants to pay to watch seventy to six hidings.

 

[Cloudsurfer]

Well, I read the article and it all looks rational, with heavy doses of common sense, pragmatism and business nous.
These obviously aren't the same guys running the show now.
The CEO is experienced at what it takes (ran SANSAR for instance) and given that he's taken over when NZRL and the Kiwis are both broke and broken-a***d I say he's acting in their best interests.
I want to see them take stock, re-stock and go for it lock, stock and barrell...when they're in a position to do so, not before. It will take a while.
Nothing against Tonga (they've put everyone on notice) but NZRL is right - have the option of which of the 2 games you'd go to, sadly the Oz Kiwi one could lose out big time. It's totally about market share and getting the NZRL coffers healthy.
Oz should host Tonga in Oz, not here I reckon.

 

[Meth]

Play the game in Tonga.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

It's more profitable to play the game in either Auckland or NSW. I'd personally like to see the game played in Auckland (under a English ref) as I think the Tongans would have more support and better chance of winning.

In saying that, I speculate that the Aussies might not want to have their future "Israel Folaus" (young Aussie born Tongans) attending these games and becoming inspired to play for Tonga. So then they strategically propose to have it here in NZ, under the guise of using last years world cup sell out games as the reason why. Pure speculation on my part.

 

[Meth]

Bugger profitable.

Give back to the Islands

 

[Penrose Warrior]

f**k me. Our game against the Kangaroos has prominence, it's the week before. If people snub that and prefer the game the week after, it's the NZRL's own fault for shitting the bed over the past two years and ensuring not many people give a f**k about the Kiwis.

And if it's the first time in four years the Kangaroos have played here, then you should be confident people will want to go.

I wish the NZRL would worry about its own back yard and building back trust in the public, not hunting off ill-perceived threats from elsewhere.

I call BS too that they'll get 25K for a one-off trans-Tasman Test too.

 

[Burns]

You can't buy tickets to the match yet.

I messaged NZRL on Facebook, and was told to keep an eye out on their Facebook for news on the coming weeks about when tickets will be on sale.

Madness.

 

[Cloudsurfer]

You can't buy tickets to the match yet.

I messaged NZRL on Facebook, and was told to keep an eye out on their Facebook for news on the coming weeks about when tickets will be on sale.

Madness.

They won't sell any tickets until the international itinerary is actually nailed down I'm guessing. The article said they will do that in Singapore?

 

[Cloudsurfer]

f**k me. Our game against the Kangaroos has prominence, it's the week before. If people snub that and prefer the game the week after, it's the NZRL's own fault for shitting the bed over the past two years and ensuring not many people give a f**k about the Kiwis.

And if it's the first time in four years the Kangaroos have played here, then you should be confident people will want to go.

I wish the NZRL would worry about its own back yard and building back trust in the public, not hunting off ill-perceived threats from elsewhere.

I call BS too that they'll get 25K for a one-off trans-Tasman Test too.

I think it'll have prominence for the same reasons but the 2 bolded bits are what the old regime is accountable for.
It looks like to me that they're trying to address all the failings across multiple fronts with a new team at the helm. I can't hold onto the old criticisms until I see what the new guys are capable of & from all accounts the new CEO has the goods, nationally and importantly, internationally.
I'm fully expecting to see a complete withdrawal of old structures and practices, even competitions, nationally and internationally as part of this - clear the decks, rebuild from a more solid base & with achievable goals over a couple of years. We'll always be the poor cousin if we don't change things.
I'll reserve my judgement for the next 2 years...

 

[Blair]

Either Penrith or Campbelltown stadiums would be rocked to their foundations for a Kanga v Tonga test.

In future, the new Parra stadium will be the venue.

Meth, would the stadium in Nuku'alofa be fit to host such expensive footballers?

 

[Penrose Warrior]

I think it'll have prominence for the same reasons but the 2 bolded bits are what the old regime is accountable for.
It looks like to me that they're trying to address all the failings across multiple fronts with a new team at the helm. I can't hold onto the old criticisms until I see what the new guys are capable of & from all accounts the new CEO has the goods, nationally and importantly, internationally.
I'm fully expecting to see a complete withdrawal of old structures and practices, even competitions, nationally and internationally as part of this - clear the decks, rebuild from a more solid base & with achievable goals over a couple of years. We'll always be the poor cousin if we don't change things.
I'll reserve my judgement for the next 2 years...

Yeah, I know it's the old regime...the Board hasn't been completely swept though, has it?

I just don't see the point in the NZRL denying New Zealanders - some of which are Tongan supporters - the chance to see a potentially enthralling international game in their own back yard. It's not like we're swamped for international league, either here or abroad. Cowardly, for me - as I said, they have the trans-Tasman Test the previous week so that already has the prominence and the chance to shine first.

 

[Rich102]

Have the test here. Get off the grass NZRL.

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/s...f/news-story/2602cc8831e0991a8b061afc27a8b6b2

 

[ZEROMISSTACKLES]

The test is on. October 20th 2018 in Auckland.

 

[Burns]

Will be a clash for the ages. Imagining that sea of red at Mt Smart again gives me goosebumps