Doh! The party’s over – let’s move on
There’s a Simpson’s episode where Homer lays off the drink for a bit and it quickly dawns on him his beloved baseball-watching experience is rather tedious without a Budweiser or two down his neck.
When Wellington sevens-goers sobered up after a decade or so and refocused their eyes on what was going on on the Westpac Stadium field, they had their own Homer Simpson moment.
Reality dawned that it was the party that was the star attraction at the sevens, not the sport itself. Take the party away and the sport itself struggles to stack up on its own.
As hard as the players work and as fit as they are, outside the Olympic Games, sevens struggles to capture the imagine of the sporting public.
It doesn’t create the water-cooler talk you would want from your sport, and a disappointing New Zealand loss can pass with barely a murmur.
Few really have an attachment to the game – there is no dodging that point.
The fact that the preview stories leading into the Wellington tournament constantly centred on just how many people would turn up – while the analysis of just what could unfold on the field remained largely untouched – highlights its importance in the sporting landscape.
The NRL Nines and Global 10s fall very much into the same category. In fact, they are even less relevant as far as a genuine sporting contest goes.
The tournaments are squeezed in to commercialise rugby and rugby league’s pre-season campaigns.
They are nothing more than money generators for preseason campaigns which previously were used to prepare for the big dance.
The promoter’s attempt to sell the line to the average sporting punter that the tournaments are enthralling sporting spectacles has struggled to catch on.
Yes, people can take it or leave it as they wish, but most are leaving it at the moment – people are voting with their feet.
Highlanders coach Tony Brown won’t attend the Global 10s in Brisbane during the weekend – so if a coach shows little interest, why should we?
Many sporting insiders have suggested the tournaments are not such a good idea, while the others smile, nod in approval, accept their pay cheque and hope the public buys it.
How much importance is really placed on the winners of these tournaments? And in the bigger picture do we really need them?
In an environment where it has become harder and harder to find a window for international rugby league, as players look down their nose at officials in regard to the workload, is an irrelevant nine-a-side tournament really a welcome addition?
Less nines, more international rugby league, for me anyway.
‘‘The tournaments . . . are nothing more than money generators for pre-season campaigns which previously were used to prepare for the big dance.’’ Logan Savory ‘‘These are harmless, relatively inoffensive pre-season products . . . No-one’s making you watch them.’’ Hamish Bidwell