Kiwis maintain status quo
11 Dec 2009
The NZRU has opted to retain a 14-team New Zealand Cup for 2010.
The organisation had hoped to reduce the number of top-tier teams to 10, with six sides (including two from the Heartland Championship) contesting the First Division.
However, the threat of legal action by affected unions – most likely Counties Manukau, Tasman, Manawatu and Northland – forced the NZRU to put those plans on hold for at least another season.
‘A number of factors have changed since the board made its decisions in June and July,’ said NZRU chairman Jock Hobbs in a statement. ‘These include the fact that competition formats have become a fundamental part of the collective employment negotiations currently underway, the fact that we have appeals lodged by the Tasman and Counties-Manukau Rugby Unions and threatened legal action from other unions,’ he said.
‘All of these matters were not likely to be resolved prior to the first quarter of 2010, and with outcomes uncertain and the need to create certainty for provincial unions and teams, it was not possible to go ahead with the new format in 2010.’
13 Comments
11 Dec 2009, 08:54 am
“most likely Counties Manukau, Tasman, Manawatu and Northland”
what’s the bet these are the small unions, a la pumas, eagles, griffons, leopards, border, boland, EP
rats and mice
11 Dec 2009, 08:55 am
is a keo$ worth more than a zim$?
11 Dec 2009, 09:56 am
When the Boks toured NZ for that tempestuous 1981 tour, Manawatu (based in Palmerston North with 30 000 students at Massey University) were the reigning Division 1 NPC champions.
11 Dec 2009, 10:01 am
Counties-Manukau is based in working-class South Auckland, which is the largest Polynesian city in the world. More PIs live there than on their islands of origin and most are 2nd or 3rd generation Kiwis. It’s the place where those hard-running, smash-tackling Samoans and Tongans grow up, go to school and learn rugby.
11 Dec 2009, 10:09 am
@TheTackler: a kiwi Soweto?
11 Dec 2009, 10:22 am
Any great players ever come out of Soweto? Plenty have come from Counties.
11 Dec 2009, 11:21 am
No Tackler, but then again lots of illegal immigrants moved to Soweto same as you moved to NZ. Ill take the zimbos anytime over a useless racist plumber.
11 Dec 2009, 11:35 am
@Slappes:
Where do you work – the post office?
11 Dec 2009, 11:36 am
A question to the Kiwi bloggers (and not the expats please).
Is this actually good or bad for NZ rugby?
IN SA we have the case of the tail wagging the dog when it comes to smaller unions which is largely viewed as negative to rugby in SA.
Is the case similar in NZ?
Is this actually good or bad for rugby in NZ where we read how audiences are dropping drastically?
11 Dec 2009, 11:43 am
I cant see this as a good thing for NZ rugby. We have seen how our standard of our currie cup has improved by cutting down of the numbers.
11 Dec 2009, 17:41 pm
The pruning down to 12 or 10 will still go ahead. At the end of 2010 and with RWC coming up the next year. For a year longer the bottom four will still get a chance to show off.
Manawatu has produced the dazzling Aaron Cruden — a potential test AB. So there’s still some gold in them thar hills.
But, for the moment, the navy is keeping its PT boats in the fleet and the crews are training hard.
And all of those minnow provinces have maintained their books in the black.
11 Dec 2009, 17:45 pm
Spectator numbers have dropped in the big centres where there’s a glut of Super and Test rugby, but those minnow teams often play to packed houses in their own home grounds where the rare sight of the homeboys squaring off against a team of big name internationals is by far the biggest show in town.
14 Dec 2009, 07:15 am
@PissAnt: I believe it is good for NZ because it will provide more depth in talent for the NZ sevens squads and the Super 14 teams then the All Blacks also the NZ Maoris or the Junior All Blacks but the major problem is how will we pay for all this?
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