Wellington rugby running scared?

Reported on the "unbiased' news last night by another great local sports person, Jerry Collins, that not only is he the proud owner of that Argy cheat's autograph, maradonna, but he is looking forward to getting Zidane's autograph as well, Becham's hand is too small!![quote]. At least Jerry has grown up [as all other SPORTS loving people in Wellington & NZ should emulate], in recognising that FOOTBALL has finally arrived big time in this Capital, and furthermore it is here to stay. Thank heaven that it is Wellington that has shown us ignorant kiwis, poms, and other folk the light, in how to really support sport per se. rastus2007-09-06 12:55:35

The truth is always hard to suppress, thanks for giving us this info, as our so called "unbiased" media, make me sick the way in which they appear to always treat FOOTBALL as the poorer cousin of both rugby codes.

As a matter of interest, does the rugby fraternity have anything similar to the Phoenix [& Y/F] with a forum, that we genuine sports lovers can address, in a healthy debate, without external influences or hidden agendas.

Yes, its called Deaker on Sport...  Rastus, yours...

I rest my case - surely the rugby followers have an internet forum

I have played and support both sports. Nothing wrong with Rugby, Football is not in direct competition for fans. This talk about rugby dying out is completely misguided, the Lions have got low crowds because of the world cup and lack of competitive games in Wellington so far this season. Whether we win the world cup or not will not effect rugby's popularity.

I have Season passes for Rugby and Football for the stadium and I don't see why you feel the need to completely rip Rugby to pieces. It's not like they are arch rivals sure New Zealand vs. Ausy rip into ausy all you want i would support you BUT we are Wellington the Capital of New Zealand and yet we seem to be treating New Zealand like an arch rival. SO why can't we support our AB's over in France as the take on the Rugby world aswell as supporting the Phoenix I really don't see the problem with it. Those be my thoughts.

I'm not sure you can claim Rugby is on a down.  The Air NZ Cup ain't grand but we're three days from a World Cup.

Personally I can't be bothered with the us vs them mentality.  We need the Rugby fans on the Phoenix bangbus so every one slide over and make room for them.

They could ask Zidane how his mum is...

Rugby will never die. If they lose, the coach gets sacked, there's a big blame fest, then everything goes back to normal. Same as always. If they win, the country goes mad for a while, then everything goes back to normal. The big problem I see with Rugby is the Super 14. It detracts from the regular comp (NPC) and it means the top line players are never really available to play at the lower levels to bring them up to par (eg, provincial and club level). The quality over time goes down because the younger players don't get to learn from the more experienced and more skilled players. The RWC has taken it to the next level and gutted the super 14 to supply players to the World Cup squad.

Wellington has the opportunity to become the heart of NZ soccer, like Auckland is the heart of NZ league. NZ teams need more opportunities to play other top NZ teams and the Chatham cup is a good step in the right direction.  Maybe get the league winners to play the Phoenix in an exhibition match? Maybe have Oceania club championships?

I support the rugby as well as the football.  I'll also  back any of the Kiwi teams who've got the guts and determination to fight for what they want and to never ever ever give up. That's one of the reasons I'm supporting the Phoenix. 

we need all sports lovers to get on board and support the nix but gotta say a half full stadium for the phoenix had way more passion then a full stadium for any NPC game iv ever been to.

It does seem that rugby is becoming to top heavy, at present there is very little interest in the NPC this year with all eyes on France and that interminably drawn out tournament over there (i cant believe that they are going into the 2nd week of a world cup with only  about only two vaguely watchable games having been played in the first round ,mega yawn!)
Rugby will always be the main sport in NZ  theres just to much money and national prestige wrapped up in the ABs for that not to be the case,yachting has tried and failed to be a viable alternative in the global recognition stakes even with vast amounts of public funds pumped into it.
It is early days yet but with the rise of football and the continuing niggles within rugby ie size differential between players in the college game,younger professional  players now opting to play in Europe rather than stay here ,over complicated rules that no one understands,and the fact that for whatever reasons League seems to be a far more appetizing   option to the lower  socio economic groupings in NZ particularly when the Warriors are doing well all seems  to suggest that Union has a real challenge on its hands if it wants to maintain its self at the top of the sporting code popularity charts.
Kiwi Jambo2007-09-20 11:12:20

The Lions are giving away tickets to tonight's game any way they can.

I can't believe the paper said there had been 19,000 tickets pre-sold to the wellington taranaki game - cant be anywhere near that number from what i can see on the telly.

maybe they added an extra zero at the end

You should go see some of the games down at Carisbrook when the scarfies are in full swing!

But yeah I agree with you up here - some of the crowds at the rugby looked half asleep. Was sweet watching us beat the Aussies at cricket though, coming back to get over 300 runs to win...

tigers2007-09-21 21:47:17