Post by England 3 Lions on Oct 21, 2009 17:19:15 GMT 10
Decline in rugby's popularity the country's gain
By Joseph Romanos - The Marlborough Express
Last updated 10:03 11/08/2009
It's not a bad thing that interest in rugby is declining.
A UMR Research poll this month revealed that interest in rugby was at 60 per cent nationally, the lowest figure since the company began this particular survey 16 years ago. The statistics confirm what we've long suspected.
Use any measuring stick you care to and the answer will be the same rugby does not have the hold it once did.
Hardly any of the home tests this season have been sell-outs, though our modern all-seater stadiums have much smaller capacities.
Super 14 attendance figures have declined markedly since the halcyon early days of the Super competition in the 1990s.
Wellington, who almost never hold the Ranfurly Shield, attracted a crowd of only 10,000 to Westpac Stadium for their first home defence of the Ranfurly Shield this season, against Otago.
Television viewing figures are harder to gauge because Sky Television offers several replays of big matches, but it is almost certain that test matches are being watched by hundreds of thousands fewer than when rugby interest was at its peak.
And look at schools. Whereas until a couple of decades ago, the country's major boys' colleges fielded perhaps 30 rugby teams and a token couple of soccer teams, now they have far more soccer than rugby teams, and the gap is widening.
Reaction to the UMR Research has been revealing.
The New Zealand Rugby Union tends to shrug off the figures, saying rugby is forever going through peaks and troughs. Some officials inside the rugby union still insist that proof of the decline in rugby interest is no more than anecdotal.
In truth, New Zealand rugby has been losing its public since the game went professional in 1995.
Top players no longer play club rugby and the fact that they make so much money makes it harder for their fans to identify with them.
My feeling is that as interest in rugby diminishes, we are growing as a country.
Sure, the All Blacks will always attract support for big matches, like the World Cup. Rugby is, after all, our national game, and no other sport even comes near to it in New Zealand.
But the unquestioning, burning passion is dying. There could never be a season again like 1956, when the Springboks toured, and it became a national mission that the All Blacks beat them.
People queued outside rugby grounds all night in mid-winter to secure tickets for the major matches. New Zealand is no longer a rugby, racing and beer society, and thank goodness for that.
Boys attending big colleges aren't automatically shepherded towards rugby. They can represent their school at dragon boat racing, bowls, golf, underwater hockey, canoe polo and so on.
There's been a broadening of interest, which makes for a healthy society.
It's a bit like television. Until the 1970s, people watching television in New Zealand were all watching the same thing. There was only one channel.
Now television viewers here have a vast numbers of channels to choose from.
So it is with sport. You are no longer looked at sideways if you follow squash, or mountain running or curling.
There is much more individual choice. Our country is growing up.
stuff.co.nz
By Joseph Romanos - The Marlborough Express
Last updated 10:03 11/08/2009
It's not a bad thing that interest in rugby is declining.
A UMR Research poll this month revealed that interest in rugby was at 60 per cent nationally, the lowest figure since the company began this particular survey 16 years ago. The statistics confirm what we've long suspected.
Use any measuring stick you care to and the answer will be the same rugby does not have the hold it once did.
Hardly any of the home tests this season have been sell-outs, though our modern all-seater stadiums have much smaller capacities.
Super 14 attendance figures have declined markedly since the halcyon early days of the Super competition in the 1990s.
Wellington, who almost never hold the Ranfurly Shield, attracted a crowd of only 10,000 to Westpac Stadium for their first home defence of the Ranfurly Shield this season, against Otago.
Television viewing figures are harder to gauge because Sky Television offers several replays of big matches, but it is almost certain that test matches are being watched by hundreds of thousands fewer than when rugby interest was at its peak.
And look at schools. Whereas until a couple of decades ago, the country's major boys' colleges fielded perhaps 30 rugby teams and a token couple of soccer teams, now they have far more soccer than rugby teams, and the gap is widening.
Reaction to the UMR Research has been revealing.
The New Zealand Rugby Union tends to shrug off the figures, saying rugby is forever going through peaks and troughs. Some officials inside the rugby union still insist that proof of the decline in rugby interest is no more than anecdotal.
In truth, New Zealand rugby has been losing its public since the game went professional in 1995.
Top players no longer play club rugby and the fact that they make so much money makes it harder for their fans to identify with them.
My feeling is that as interest in rugby diminishes, we are growing as a country.
Sure, the All Blacks will always attract support for big matches, like the World Cup. Rugby is, after all, our national game, and no other sport even comes near to it in New Zealand.
But the unquestioning, burning passion is dying. There could never be a season again like 1956, when the Springboks toured, and it became a national mission that the All Blacks beat them.
People queued outside rugby grounds all night in mid-winter to secure tickets for the major matches. New Zealand is no longer a rugby, racing and beer society, and thank goodness for that.
Boys attending big colleges aren't automatically shepherded towards rugby. They can represent their school at dragon boat racing, bowls, golf, underwater hockey, canoe polo and so on.
There's been a broadening of interest, which makes for a healthy society.
It's a bit like television. Until the 1970s, people watching television in New Zealand were all watching the same thing. There was only one channel.
Now television viewers here have a vast numbers of channels to choose from.
So it is with sport. You are no longer looked at sideways if you follow squash, or mountain running or curling.
There is much more individual choice. Our country is growing up.
stuff.co.nz