Halberg Awards

Halberg Awards

http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/sport/4118392/Excellence-deserves-rewards-at-Halberg-Awards

Whoever wrote that is utter moronic.
"Just because we're generally pants at football, "
Said who? We are "pants" COMPARATIVELY because people around the world play the sport. If the rest of the world played rugby we wouldnt do nearly aswell but that doesnt mean we're "pants".
All Blacks rated above for achievement? The above statement pretty much explains that.
"Quality of opposition" is also explained above. I have no clue how the all blacks scored higher in this also

Oh there is no chance we will win. Rugby all the way

Looking at it from a Halberg awards perspective. We are a rugby nation, that isn't about to change. And when our national team of our national game wins every game it plays in a year, trouncing last years holders multiple times, that is not something that can be overlooked just because we're traditionally good at it. I wouldn't give the Black Ferns a chance, they were expected to win that world cup, and there is far less in the way of competition in womens rugby.

For me the decision must be based on expectation. Were the All Blacks expected to win every game of the Tri-Nations? No.

What were the All Whites expected to do at the world cup? snatch maybe 1 draw. Well we managed 3, including one that arguably de-railed the defending world champions. That's looking at it through my (rose tinted) perspective, but through other sporting critics lenses, they may see it unfit to award 'Team of the Year' to a team that didn't win a single match at the world cup finals.

Yeah, it's bullsh*t.

Might as well get the angst underway now.
Will not be surprised at all.

I firmly believe the rowers should scoop all the awards.

brettdale2010-09-13 22:17:26

Quality of opposition, how the f**k is the All Blacks rated higher? No one plays rugby!!!! The All Blacks themselves aren't even in the same category as the Italian football team.

The All Blacks have had a fantastic year. The best in a long time. Ridiculous to say no one plays rugby, yes I know football has far more nations competing but what the All Blacks have achieved is pretty darned good. I think the All Whites achievement was greater. But the All Blacks still deserve some recognition in some form.

The Tall Blacks beat France a powerhouse of european basketball at the world champs and made the sweet 16, thats a much bigger acheivement than anything the all blacks could of done, because of the size of the sport.

Telf is the biggest hypocrite out there, he's so arrogant and usually hangs up on someone with a different opinion to him

Not really.

Agree with Buffy here. Wales and New Zealand are the only two major countries where rugby is their national sport, maybe a Tonga and Samoa too? Rugby is so small in Europe and is barely played in Asia and any of the Americas. Except for South Africa it's hardly played in Africa. So tell me, where are all these rugby players you're talking about Simon?

Your having a laugh about the Tall Blacks,yes basketball is a big sport worldwide.But the world champs are held without the best players in the world so im not sure how they can be rated so highly.

As much as i would love to see the All Whites win,in some ways i hope they dont as these awards should be about winning not about having done okay at a big tournament.

I wonder if  this was the year that the kiwis won the rugby league world cup, if Nz Journos would be pushing for them at the halbergs over the all whites. Of course not.

This. As much as I would love to see the All Whites get the public recognition they deserve, I can't see them winning this award. Parts of the article above are ridiculous, but this years All Blacks have been really good, and I agree with the fact that the Halbergs should be more about winning than just doing well. That the Tall Blacks won it by coming fourth is understandable because of all the wins along the way.

The other thing is that the outcry from the eggball crowd if the All Blacks dont win would be unbearable. In their eyes, for an undefeated all blacks side regularly labelled the best ever to be beaten by a team who didn't actually win any games at their tournament would be an utter sin.

Not saying I don't think the All Whites deserve it, I'm just saying that I don't think it will pan out that way

I think a more likely outcome would be all blacks team of the year and Ricki coach of the year.

Edit: And Nelsen should get sportsman of the year, but won't.aitkenmike2010-09-14 15:00:38

Best ever? What a crock.

For example, the irish have never beaten the All Blacks, and they're one of the top teams in world rugby! It's always down to South Africa vs New Zealand, and occasionally Australia or France. When the World Cup is on there's only four teams that could realistically win it, the FIFA World Cup on the other hand is much much more competitive.

All Blacks have beaten South Africa 55.6% of the times they've played
v Australia 68.4%
v France 73.5%
v England 78.7%
v Wales 88.9%
v Argentina 92.3% (because of 1 draw)
v Scotland 92.6% (because of 2 draws)
v Ireland 95.6% (because of 1 draw)
v Italy 100%
v Canada 100%
v USA 100%
v Tonga 100%
v Samoa 100%
v Fiji 100%
v Portugal 100%
v Romania 100%
v Japan 100%

Only five countries have ever beaten the All Blacks! So the quality of opposition should not be rated 8.5! because the fact is, there just isn't any strong competition.

I don't necessarily agree, I'm just pointing out what several journos have written

I dont see how rugby can even be considered? Hardly no one plays it.

How Ryan Nelsen has never won sportsman of the year is beyond me

It's not that surprising. I mean did Rufer ever win anything when he was golden boot in Europe or Bundesliga champion?

For the record, if Ricki doesn't win the coaching award I'll spew

I think the big one is deof coach of the year. Rugby is isn't the national sport, it's the national religion here. If the All Blacks don't have any case against them winning, it'd be considered heresey for them not to win it. And as much as I want the AWs to win, and as much as I dislike the All Blacks, they've made one hell of a case for themselves this year.

Not even close. Football and Cricket are the only two sports that can be considered "religions" in the respective countries that see them that way.

I never said lots of people play. Who cares about the national sport? That has no relevance whatsoever to the argument. Of course there are more football nations than rugby, I'm not stupid enough to argue that. It is actually played quite a lot in Europe. Though you'd never know because football and handball take all the pages. Many European teams fight for World Cup qualification. It is played more than you'd think, again, nowhere near as much as football but that's not the point.

Man, some of you guys get yourselves worked up way to easy. First hint of some rural halfwit who still thinks NZ is still in the 50s and you all start jumping around.

Ian's a good man.  Former football writer for the Times.  Used to be a good source for tips if you were punting US sports.

I'm done, I'm really done, the fact that we are even having this discussion, shows the amount of Mind Rape the New Zealand media has commited against the public.

Not really - just because many European teams compete in the RWC qualifiers doesn't signify that the sport is actually played at any serious level (it's mostly played recreationally in this respect). Croatia always plays in the RWC qualifiers, but hardly anyone is even aware of this fact other than the players themselves and their immediate families.

Okay, I'm wrong.

they need a peoples choice award so that the public can actually decide who wins what for once. its the public that make a sport what it is anyway, so why not? if you were the world cocksucking champ you would probably have more of a chance of winning a halberg than a NZ football player/team would, i mean you would have to be pretty good to win at that, and i guess the halberg selectors could relate so...

Julian Dean should get an award before any All Black, he had top 3 results in a sport way bigger world wide than rugby will ever be.

A million times this!