Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Not Everybody's Cuppa

I've warned about this for over a year: *yawn* Rugby World Cup burn-out.
Last week my gut feeling was endorsed by a UMR Research poll, showing 37% said they were looking forward to the tournament...but just as many said they were not!
NZ Herald then ran its own on-line poll: "How much are you looking forward to the Rugby World Cup?" Of the 14,000+ votes, 24% said: "I'll watch a few games, it should be good." 23% voted: "Not too bothered either way," and 22% said: "I don't really like rugby, not looking forward to it at all." 16% voted: "Not excited yet, but I'll get there when it starts," while the optimists came in last...just 15% said: "Super excited, can't wait."
This sort of burn-out is what happens when you saturate a small country like ours with 18 months of non-stop pump-up news articles, interviews, Party Central and Tupperwaka controversies, pricing scandals, speculation, advertising, marketing fakes...and now the latest drama about RWC All Black jerseys being more expensive here
Show us da MONEY!!!
than on-line from USA!
It's yet another example of the RWC gravy train, milking as much money out of domestic and international rugger fans as it collectively can. And let's not forget that it's still on-target to lose $40m! Rail and plane fares are up, hotel rates up, short-term housing rentals up (and thus damaging the overall rental market), some RWC tickets obscenely priced...and yet there're commentators labelling people like myself (who see the whole RWC as an inflated circus act) "negative"!
Well, so be it. I accept the charge, Your Honour: rugby is not my cuppa tea and the greed created by this tournament has further entrenched my opinion.
For those who're heavily into *yawn* RWC, go for it! Enjoy! But less bitching over prices, ok? After all, you've bought into the whole hype voluntarily.

1 comment:

Ken K. said...

Yea, I'll be bloody glad to see the back-end of it too!