I don't know what you guys are watching or reading [if at all] because I consider that I have a pretty good knowledge of what is happening with Kiwi sports people throughout the world. Admittedly I don't glean all of that information from the front of the newspaper or the TV [in fact I rarely watch the TV news now] but I am interested enough to either seek out the information or recognise it as being of interest if it comes across me in the more mainstream media. The point of this post is not to demonstrate how amazing I am but more to put forward that I think those that are interested will look for that information. I certainly don't expect the mainstream media to report on how a Kiwi is playing in the German 3rd division or even that there are kiwis playing there. Mainstream media is essentially a paid for service and they will provide what the general populace want, sometimes they will generate a story if they think it will benefit them or ignite public interest but they are looking for the biggest bang for the buck.
We can't sit there and moan because there is not enough coverage of football in the NZ media when we can only get 6 or 7 thousand to the top level of the game at the Cake Tin. We can rant and rave about how many people play the game but how much of that is real interest? the type of interest that gets people along to games, watch it on TV, read it in the paper etc? Like I paly pool when I'm at the pub, yet I don't pore over the snooker results in the paper nor watch Pot Black or the World Snooker Championships.
To be fair, Lydia Ko deserves her chunk of the segment because she is doing amazing.
It would be nice for us to get more exposure, but you are right, more media exposure legitimises the comp, the team and that generates interest.
In Aussie Rules (where this whole membership culture is coming from); they make a big deal of who holds the Number 1 ticket. Generally a high profile person. Who holds the Nix #1 ticket? Lydia could be a wonderful #1 ticket holder if she (or her "people") had any interest at all in football.