Why should we bail out SANZAAR? It’s their own fault
If you ever wanted a perfect example of how out of touch World Rugby are, then a glance at their home page on Friday morning would have illustrated it.
As you might have noticed, the Six Nations, probably the biggest international competition in the world, kicked off on Friday evening, but under the banner headline ‘LIVE Rugby this weekend’, you would have found ‘The fourth edition of the everevolving Americas Rugby Championship kicks-off…’.
I’m afraid this rather sums up an organisation that come across as more and more detached from the real world, and their recent ‘summit’ in Los Angeles gave further evidence for that.
The clearly barking-mad concept of a world league was discussed, and that must never be allowed to happen. The brainchild of Agustin Pichot, World Rugby’s vice-chairman, the idea is that, except in RWC years, something will be cobbled together which incorporates in some form the Six Nations, the Southern Hemisphere Rugby Championship, and will maybe chuck in Fiji and Japan – I’ve no doubt Uncle Tom Cobley might get a look in too.
Let’s be clear, the Northern Hemisphere doesn’t need this nonsense in any shape or form. There are two things behind this move: the game in the Southern Hemisphere is in deep trouble, and World Rugby are an organisation in search of a proper mission.
Super Rugby is in crisis and has no real idea of where it’s going. Australian rugby has lost the plot, in New Zealand kids are drifting away in droves from the game, and the All Blacks are running out of meaningful competition – the Championship provides it on rare occasions, but the travelling involved is insane.
World Rugby are so out of touch with the elite game in the Northern Hemisphere that their influence is waning, so they are desperately thrashing around looking for ways to bolster their role.
I really struggle with this egalitarian idea that the north, where things are going well, should sacrifice some of its success to help out the south. The problems in the SANZAAR
“The clearly barking-mad concept of a world league was discussed”
nations are not of our making, they are entirely self-inflicted. What is happening in New Zealand is a perfect argument against central contracts and Union control – they have, in the All Blacks, probably still the best international team in the world, but below that they have next to nothing. Their Super Rugby franchises are so dominant that it’s embarrassing, and their provincial competition doesn’t really hit the spot for fans – as Chris Rattue, the New Zealand Herald’s combative columnist put it, “Apart from some Test rugby, the game is a crock of you know what in this part of the world”! If that’s the view of an informed commentator on the New Zealand game, imagine how bad things must be in Australia!
As the Six Nations starts, there was a fascinating spat on Twitter between Brian Moore and someone who made the point that the exEngland hooker’s commentary style wasn’t to his taste. Moore somewhat cuttingly asked at what level his critic had played, and it’s a cracking question even if not for the reason that was intended!
Let’s start by saying that people’s taste in commentators and pundits is personal and more often than not very subjective. As an example, I rate Moore’s contribution as one of the better aspects of what I think is the Beeb’s thoroughly average coverage of the Six Nations.
If I watch the games I tend to do so with the volume very low or off, and the preamble with the anchors and a few random ex-players I find impossible to enjoy. Half-time is simply for making a cup of coffee as the Beeb drivel drives me crazy. By way of contrast, I much prefer ITV’s roster of commentators and pundits, but as I said, this is a personal preference.
The fact is that, with a very few exceptions, explayers have a desperately short shelf-life as pundits. After they retire they can offer a degree of currency for a while, but once their contemporaries have also packed it in, then many of them have no inside knowledge worth mentioning, but the Beeb seems to specialise in offering a few of them a sinecure!
BT Sports, and even Sky, are infinitely better than either the BBC or ITV when it comes to rugby coverage, and that’s hardly a surprise. If you want to do well in any kind of activity, practice and experience count for a lot, but the terrestrial broadcasters do so little rugby that they never really get their hand in, plus they are trying to cater for two entirely separate audiences – those that love their club rugby and understand the laws of the game (well, some of them), and those who only switch on because nationalism makes them want to see their team win. That’s a circle that can’t really be squared.
So, to return to Brian Moore’s original question, having played at the highest level is absolutely no guarantee of competence when it comes to commentary or punditry, and I’m afraid the Six Nations illustrates that in spades.