Wake Me When It's Over

The Olympic pains!
Boring. Boring. Boring.
Did I mention boring?
I didn't buy into the pre-games hype (because I could see the growing pile of problems). Since it started, I've painted the fence simply to watch it dry!
I believe the Olympics lost it's sparkle years ago. This year's games have been buried under the Zika virus controversy; Brazil's political, economic and security problems; the Russian steroids scandal (and I'm sure the Comrades are not the only ones). Rio's poor were segregated behind the city's own 'Berlin Wall' and their shanty homes bulldozed to construct the Olympic facilities - many of which were still not ready just days before opening. Venues have been half-empty; local spectators have loudly booed other nations' winners; an official was caught scalping tickets; there've been shootings and murders near the facilities, competitors have been robbed; and let's not forget the pollution and body parts bobbing in the harbour where races are held.
And did I mention deliberately throwing oneself (opps, I mean accidentally tripping!) over the line to order to grab a medal? No, if you ain't running in a running race when you hit the finish, then you ain't finished!
No doubt as a result of all this, ticket sales for the Paralympics to follow these games are appallingly bad.

New Olympic sport?

But you can guarantee at the closing ceremony, some tosser in a suit will declare Rio 2016 "the best Olympics EVER"... yea, right.
The Olympics needs a complete overhaul. Get rid of sports that the majority of viewers and participants consider non-Olympic, and let's get real on the ridiculous 'demonstration' events. A return to complete amateurism would be great, but won't happen because every country wants to win medals and some countries will go to any lengths to get 'em.
And the media needs to throttle back on the 'hopes and dreams' hype. It's great to support our athletes, but don't set them up to fail and then broadcast disparagingly that they "could only manage" a silver or bronze (!!!)
Now excuse me: I have to paint the fence again.

Kiwi Takes Boxing Triple Crown

Today in history, 14 Jan.1891, New Zealander Bob Fitzsimmons knocked out Jack Dempsey in New Orleans, to win the world middleweight championship.
He also won the heavyweight title in 1897, made history as boxing's first three-division world champion, and became one of NZ's first

sporting heroes.
Robert James "Bob" Fitzsimmons (26 May 1863 – 22 October 1917) was born in Cornwall, England but learned boxing – and developed his upper-body strength - working as a blacksmith in Timaru.
Discovered by legendary British boxer/bare-knuckle fighter Jem "The Gypsy" Mace in 1882, Bob served his boxing apprenticeship in Australia. He won his first world title in 1891, knocking out Jack "Unbeatable" Dempsey to win the world middleweight championship.
In 1897, at Carson City in Nevada, in the first fight to ever be filmed, Fitzsimmons knocked out James "Gentleman Jim" Corbett for the world heavyweight crown, which he held for two years.
[Originally running at over 100 minutes, The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Fight was the longest film ever released to that date: as such, it was the world's first feature film. It was also the first to be shot in widescreen. Only fragments of the film survive today.]
Known as "Ruby Bob", he gained an unprecedented third world title at the age of 40, when he beat George Gardner over 20 rounds in San Francisco in 1903, for the recently-introduced light-heavyweight crown.
When his boxing days ended, Bob Fitzsimmons embarked upon a career on the vaudeville stage, and died in Chicago of pneumonia in 1917. Having had four wives, a gambling habit and a susceptibility to scam artists, Bob did not hold on to the money he made.
Considered one of the hardest punchers in boxing history, he is ranked No.8 on Ring Magazine's list of 100 greatest punchers of all time.
Fitzsimmons was posthumously inducted into the NZ Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.

Does This Count As A No-Ball?

A game of backyard cricket, in a property bordering the Avondale Racecourse in Auckland, could have ended badly for one of the participants last Saturday.
A wayward shot resulted in the ball soaring skywards and on to the Auckland racetrack near the 1000m mark...just as the field jumped from the barriers for the start of Race 2.
Soon after, a young man, who didn't appear to be in a great rush, wandered onto the track to retrieve the ball as the field thundered towards him...

After realising a race was in progress - and he was right in the middle of it! - he ducked under the inside running rail when the thundering hooves were within 75m of him.
The course manager spoke to the cricketers at the property, and a racecourse staffer was posted on the back straight for the rest of the day.
Club president Alan Boyle: "Safety requirements obviously demand an investigation. Firstly I need to talk with the track manager and club committee member responsible for track safety, so it's a bit premature to comment until that is done."
I'd suggest in the meantime, NZ Cricket officials might like to measure the length of that hit, and see whether the batter is worthy of recruiting for the Black Caps!

America, The Ignorant?

The Star-Spangled Banner was sung by the Chicago fans...
The haka was pumped out by the opposition...
and the slaughter began!
But wait: WHERE did that opposing team come from?
A Chicago newspaper has apologised after delivering the ultimate insult to the All Blacks and New Zealand - calling them Australians!
Check out the headline that followed last weekend's match!

To its credit, the Chicago Sun-Times added a correction to its online story the next day...but that did not counteract its incompetance.
For the record, the NEW ZEALAND All Blacks completely blew away the United States, 74-6!
Yeup, 74-6...did I mention the mighty US was thrashed 74-6?
Just sayin'...

OMG! The All Blacks Are Human!

Meads and McCaw:
mighty...but still human!

Rugby legend Sir Colin Meads played a record 133 games for the All Blacks from 1957-1971.
ABs captain Richie McCaw broke that record when playing against South Africa recently. Pretty bloody impressive, wouldn't you think? But hardly a word was actually said.
The All Blacks just ended a 22-test unbeaten run stretching back to 2012. Prior that, their longest unbeaten streak was 23 games without loss: 1987-1990. Again, rather impressive. And again, "mum" was pretty much the word. Why...? Because the All Blacks LOST.
Yeup, all good things must come to an end - as they did on Ellis Park in Jo'burg last week, when the 'boks beat the ABs 27-25.
But AB rugby, wallowing in its over-glorified status, can't POSSIBLY be criticised or spoken ill of. Oh, no!
I've listened all week, but the kiwi press hacks were conspicuous by their relative silence over the mighty All Blacks' defeat. Far be it from them to spread the word that the ABs are after all...*whisper* human!
Jeeeez!!! Get a grip!!!
As I've often written, rugby - is - just - a - game!
If its elevated to unsustainable lofty heights, sooner or later it'll suffer altitude sickness! And then, humble pie doesn't taste too good, eh.

No Parents Allowed

What's a school sports day, without parents to cheer their kids on?
But at Glapton Academy primary school in Nottinghamshire, UK, parents have been banned over fears they could cause a Hillsborough-style crush!
Headteacher Ruth Ellis says the decision was made because of "rising pupil numbers." The school has 318 pupils on the roll, up from 284 in 2010. Not a major school by any stretch of the imagination, and yet parents were told to keep away from the day – which features such events as the traditional egg and spoon race, and a sack race – because the school could not guarantee children's safety.
Children have been very upset to learn their parents wouldn't be participating and cheering them on.
Head of governors Nick Ydlibi: "We feel that due to the rise in pupils it would be extremely difficult to guarantee the safety of our children at an outdoor event with open gates."
Parents have branded the ruling 'bonkers'. David Elliott said he spoke to a school official who told him the ban was for health and safety reasons: "When I asked what the school was afraid of, she said there was a potential for a crush. I said "What, like Hillsborough?", sort of as a joke, and she said, "Yes"."
The Hillsborough Disaster happened in 1989 when, during the Liverpool/Nottingham Forest FA Cup semi-final, a human crush caused 96 deaths and injuries to 766 others.
David Elliott: "What's next? Are they going to stop us watching the school Christmas play?"

Should NZ Cough Up For Ko?

Her name is Lydia Ko: she's 16yrs.old.
She plays golf for a living - and she's pretty good at it.
This year Lydia Ko has made $280,000. So far, so good.
But now, Ko and entourage wants the NZ taxpayer to give her even more money than when she was an amateur.

I want it ALL! NOW!!

As an amateur, she received $115,000 from High Performance Sport NZ in 2012 and $185,000 last year...PLUS she pocketed NZ$181,000 for winning the Swinging Skirts World Ladies Masters tournament in Taiwan last year. NONE of the $181K came back to reimburse NZ. This year, NZ Golf is applying for $208K to pay for her physiotherapy, coaching and mental skills training. Oh, and did I mention that this also includes $115K to pay for transport and accommodation to tournaments for Ko and her mum...
EVEN THOUGH KO IS NOW PRO!
Why? Being a pro means surviving/succeeding by her own abilities. As a pro, she can reap big financial rewards from tournaments, as well as millions in management contracts and endorsement deals. Ko is sponsored by Callaway Golf and ANZ Bank, who pay her performance bonuses on top of a retainer (potentially multi-millions, and that's likely to rise as Lydia's now ranked No.4 in the world).
Endorsements, management deals, accomodation, travel. She'll be getting well looked after by businesses. So why should NZ have to add to her coffers? The moment one turns professional, any amateur support must instantly cease!

Update: 15 April 2014 - While papers report Ko being "rocked by backlash" to this issue, her website is still headed "the official site of #1 woman world golf amateur", and says nothing about bludging amateur support money while she's a pro!
Update: 28 April 2014 - Ko wins her first LPGA Tour victory...and pockets $270,000! Not a bad 18th birthday present...AND CLEARLY NOT AN AMATEUR (she's made over half a million this year)!!!

Norway's Ice Follies

I'm barely aware that the Winter Olympics are currently on...in Russia, I'm told. But...
Watching tv recently, my eye was nearly plucked out(!) by the bizarre sight of the Norwegian curling team's brightly-coloured baggies!
I believe the multi-coloured clown-like pants were modeled on their country's flag! Riiiiight! Were they an attempt to distract the opposition? I sure couldn't watch!!
But uh-oh: "Oslo, ve hav a problem!"

courtesy NY Daily News

Last Monday, an official 'trouser crisis' was declared by Norwegian tv! Norway had to face Britain in a tiebreaker for the semifinal. The team had only brought nine pairs of these wildly-patterned pants, the idea being to have a different pair of pants for each of the nine teams they faced during the round-robin. So the drama was: which pants to REPEAT???
Such tension! There was ferocious chatter on the "Norwegian Olympic Curling Team's Pants" Facebook page (yes, it DOES exist)! The tough decision was left to the team's 'fashion coordinator' Christoffer Svae, who's also a curler (and obviously has little fashion SENSE)...he said they'd wear a pair that the team had previously won in.
So the norrbagges played in the winning pants from their clash with Russia...and lost.
Now it's a thank-GOD farewell to the Nordic fashion criminals! *phew*
No more wearing of sunglasses in front of the telly!
Note to Norway: NEVER let Christoffer Svae near fashion again.

Hanging Up The Headphones Happily

It's been a year of broadcasting fuck-ups (eg: the right Royal Aussie Dial-A-Dickhead incident and the Willie Jackson/John Tamihere Let's-Ridicule-Rape phonecall).
So it's pleasing to see two of NZ's longer-serving radio personalities retiring with heads held high…rather than having been decapitated.

"Deaks"

After 13½ years, Murray Deaker stepped down from the Sunday with Deaker show on Radio Sport, while on National Radio, Chris Laidlaw presented the Sunday Morning programme for the last time after 11 years.
Both men have left their jobs at the top of their game. Former Labour MP, All Black and race relations commissioner, Laidlaw held 14% of the Sunday morning radio audience. Meanwhile the fiery and often controversial Deaker won Sports Broadcaster of the year in 2012, and was a finalist

Laidlaw

in 2013.
Unlike too many of today's so-called on-air "professionals", these two rarely put a foot wrong, delivering quality entertainment and information, and hang up their headphones with pride.
Deaker's replacement on Radio Sport will be the partner-bashing Tony Veitch, and Wallace Chapman takes over the Sunday Morning programme on Radio NZ.

Skyfall?

This week, lotsa sports talk has centred on the switch of UK footie, from TV to laptop.

Never take your eyes off the ball!

Sky TV put in its biggest-ever bid for the NZ rights to all English Premier League matches for the next three seasons, but was beaten by Coliseum Sports Media which will stream live to laptops, iPads etc...
Coliseum's unsure just how many English Premier League fans there are...especially those prepared to stump up with the dosh. Founder/director Timothy Martin says customers can watch all 380 games of the league on-line for $150 a season. Meanwhile TVNZ has the free-to-air rights and will show 38 premier league matches a season.
Sky's gotta be concerned at the possible subscriber drift. In fact, it must be seriously pissed that someone else waltzed in and took a piece of the proverbial pie. Its live sport monopoly was the main reason why Kiwis were attracted to Sky and why they're willing to pay $70-90 monthly for a package bundle of channels, the majority of which they don't even watch.
Coliseum has looked into what Sky doesn't provide or does poorly, and obviously one aspect is that the viewing is restricted to inside the home. Even though Sky still has all the other sports, people may decide that the luxury of mobility is a better alternative. The main obstacle for Coliseum is that consumers have got comfortable with Sky, warts an' all: being able to settle down in front o'telly-like with comfy slippers, pipe and wife, is perfectly acceptable for some. But if this new age of viewing takes off over the next few years, that scenario may become a distant memory.
The next move will be up to Sky...and its current consumers.

 [...with thanx to Anthony Murphy]

There's Money In Pine Trees

In NZ tv advertising, The Briscoes Lady seems to have been around forever but, when it comes to sales longevity, she's got nothing on Colin Meads.
Amidst hundreds of accolades, Meads has been described as "the purest and most ferocious All

"Pinetree" and SsangYong

Black there has ever been" - Donald McRae in the Guardian. Now, 40 years after hanging up his footy boots, the mighty "Pinetree" is the advertising frontman supreme.
While other All Blacks gradually fade away, this icon remains a sporadic constant on tv, selling everything from farm utes to finance companies.
Apart from the ads, there's also a public-speaking career that's always boomed. At 76, Sir Colin Meads is still on the road as a public speaker, a career that's become a way of life kept organised by his wife Lady Verna: "Once he gave up rugby I thought that would be it, but now he's busier than ever!" Meads does 30-40 speaking engagements a year. In 2011, he went to Wales and did 14 speaking spots in 18 days. He says he never uses notes either, instead saying whatever comes, for whatever duration the organisers ask.
Times sure have changed. When Meads wrote his first book, the rules of amateur rugby meant he wasn't allowed to take any money. He had to make a trust to remain part of rugby, and none of his family were allowed to be involved.
Can Colin remember all the products he's endorsed? Well, of course most NZers recall the legendary one for tanalised fence posts, showing Meads striding across a hill-country farm with a fence post over each shoulder, as if on a Sunday stroll. For the record, we've seen the Big Man in ads for baling twine, Remington razors, Nissan Patrol, Honda ATVs, Bob Charles' Deer Velvet, SsangYong, Vogel's Bread, lifejacket safety awareness, Provincial Finance, Mastercard, Revitive Circulation Booster, even Mainland Cheese. And while he doesn't have any ads in the pipeline right now, he recently featured in a short award-winning mockumentary about gumboots!
In short, The Legend is a highly respected NZ household brand... good on ya, Pinetree!

Defence Spending Going Down Hole #9

I spied this article recently - thought it may give you food for thought (have edited it for ease of reading)...

US golf course right beside
the Korean DMZ!!!

When American politicians talk about budget cuts, you just know its military will be under the spotlight.
I never agree with cuts that jeopardise the safety and effectiveness of troops at the sharp end, but lately there've been reports showing plenty of fat still to be sliced off the US defence budget. For example, 234 golf courses maintained by the US Dept of Defence around the world! Imagine the expense!
Unfortunately, the exact cost remains undisclosed by the Pentagon, but here's a general idea of how much the US spends on golf courses that are in some cases closed to the very taxpayers who fund them. The US Golf Association (USGA) says the average cost of maintaining a golf course was between $384K and $686K in 1998, the most recent year it had figures for. In 2008, golf consulting firm GolfMAK Inc. estimated annual course maintenance expenditures at between $500K and $1m, and that did not include food and drink, building maintenance, and staff and management fees. So a very conservative estimate is that the US Govt spends about $600,000pa managing each military golf course...a total of over US$140m every year!
Sure, the courses generate revenue through greens fees, but the courses routinely charge cut rates. With below-market revenue coming in, and outlays at full market rates, it's hard to imagine those courses turning much of a profit, if any...leaving USGA's claim that the military's golf courses receive "little to no federal funding" in serious doubt. Mind you, that entire $140m could easily qualify as "little" funding - because the Govt spends about $6.85m per minute, so $140m is less than 21 minutes' worth!
Even if the courses are breaking even or turning a profit, many sit on prime land that the govt could sell/lease for a profit, rather than maintain to charge below-market greens fees.

US artillery practice???

And the military even has valuable golfing properties overseas: three in Germany totalling $36.4m, another in Sth Korea worth $26m, and let's not forget Saudi Arabia and Kuwait among many others. Moreover, by being located on military bases, there're also security costs to consider, as well as the cost of maintaining the electrical lines, water services, and roads.
Golf may be an good morale-builder for the military, but with fiscal strangulation gripping America, this type of expenditure is indefensible. Instead, the good ol' US of A should focus on things its military actually needs to carry out its missions. How golfing really helps achieve this is beyond me...

[Click here for more on this subject...]

NZ In A Month

Just a month to run the length of NZ!
No mean feat for anyone...let alone a 19-year-old. This week Victoria Taylor from the Hutt Valley completed the 2200km Cape Reinga-Bluff trip in only 34 days.
She even ran on a treadmill while crossing Cook Strait aboard the Interisland ferry. And as icing on the cake, she ran across Stewart Island too.
Victoria's efforts raised more than $9,500 for child cancer, and beat the previous record by nine days. She also wore out $750 worth of shoes in the first week, had her support driver quit after the first day...and unexpectedly, put on 6kg in the process!
Her next goal is the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Selectors, keep an eye on this girl: she's got guts!

Gold Medal-Losing Excuses

When you've set your most revered and infallible self on the world's highest pedestal, you really do have to be able to cut the mustard.

"Ugg. Gun. Ugg. Good."

So in the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympics, 'He Whose Arse Shall Be Kissed By The Very Gods Themselves' aka Kim Jong-un - new leader of North Korea (DPRK) - has been showing his sportsmen how to win gold.
This Olympic-standard multi-sport skill-set must be in his DNA. His late dad (Dear Leader, Superior Person, Sun of the Communist Future, Guarantee of the Fatherland's Unification) Kim Jong-il's first-ever round of golf featured five holes-in-one and he

"If he yells 'Hi-ho, Silver!'
one more bloody time...!"

finished 38 under par. He da MAN!!
Well, new DPRK god Kim has toured a bullet factory and shooting range, to offer guidance so his country's marksmen will be more successful. He did the same with his equestrian team...and even went so far as to instruct his top generals in warfare.
Such revelations prompted a UK journalist to call North Korea's London embassy, to ask if Kim was giving formal coaching to Team DPRK (after all, the coach of North Korea's 2010 World Cup squad claimed the late Kim Jong-il was directing the side via an "invisible mobile phone" of his own invention). There was a long pause, then: "I couldn't speak about this." "In that case, is Kim as much the athlete his father was?" "We are not sure," was the tactful response, suggesting news of Kim's sporting genius had yet to filter down to his dominion's more farflung outposts.

"The planes go up THERE!
How hard can it BE?!"

Either way, the 2012 Games is a gold-medal-winning opportunity for DPRK to reinforce its world champion status, for the best sporting failure excuses. At 2010 Football World Cup, the national coach blamed their defeat on the fact that most of the players had been struck by lightning a month before during training! And we all know what happened to their team after that loss! Then just a year beforehand, state media announced the entire side had been poisoned before a World Cup qualifier on the personal orders of the South Korean president.
I look forward to seeing how they'll top those excuses!

2012 Olympics: 27 July - 12 August, London, UK

Happy Birthday, Pinetree!

Colin 'Pinetree' Meads was born in Cambridge today in history, 3rd.June, 1936, grew up on a King Country farm...and grew into a larger-than-life kiwi rugby legend.
The nickname 'Pinetree' was given to him by a team-mate when he toured Japan in 1958 with the NZ Under-23 team. At 1.92m tall and 100kg, Meads was no bigger than many of his fellow players: the name was more a recognition of his overall physical presence. Colin didn't even step inside a modern gym until 1995, but many NZers will recall a tv ad featuring him striding nonchalantly over steep rural farmland with a telegraph pole over each shoulder!
Meads' playing style was physical and uncompromising. Like all players before the pro era, he didn't become rich playing sport. He also played in an era when substitutes were not allowed: during the 1970 South Africa tour, he broke his arm against Eastern Transvaal but continued playing. At the end of the match Meads muttered: "At least we won the bloody game." Exploits like this made him a folk hero.
After his debut in 1955, Meads played his entire provincial career, 139 games, for his home province of King Country. His All Black debut was on the 1957 tour of Australia. From then on he became an almost permanent fixture in the test line-up until 1971, when he captained an inexperienced All Black team to their first series loss to the British Lions. Meads hung up his boots following two President's XV matches against the ABs.

Lifting Netball's Profile

Suddenly, sporting folk are talking about women's netball.
No, not the short skirts or long legs... but the lift.
Last Sunday's trans-Tasman clash between NZ team the Mystics and the Ozzie Vixens in Melbourne was set ablaze, when the kiwis employed a rarely-used tactic of cheer-lifting, a rugby-lineout-type lift. Mystics defender Anna Harrison pulled off some spectacular action following assisted lifts from teammates, a move which impressed some and left others questioning its legality.
Yet it's a tactic that's been around in top-level netball since the 1970s, and was used by Singapore against Sri Lanka at last year's world champs.
By all accounts, its a difficult manouvere to achieve successfully, requiring perfect timing and a defender who keeps her body perfectly straight while being lifted. Mystics coach Debbie Fuller came up with the idea, as a way to combat increasingly taller shooters who have entered the ANZ Championship in recent years. The team practised the move for the past month and checked with umpires to make sure they would not be penalised. It's not against rules to lift a player, but some whingers say it goes against the spirit of the game.
But the Ozzies were impressed: their coach Lisa Alexander called it a great innovation and hasn't ruled out using it: "Definitely it adds variety to the game, and makes people sit up and take notice. Its a great innovation, but we'll be doing our best to counteract it." She said Australia had even trialled the tactic in the past.
In my book, ANYthing that enhances the game has gotta be good for it! And if there's a brief flash of an extra length of toned leg in the air at the same time, well...

Pt Chev's Hallyburton Archway

Take a stroll through the Auckland suburb of Point Chevalier, and you'll see it's loaded with local history.
For example, 335 Pt Chev Road. Blink... and you may miss a rusting iron archway bearing the words Hallyburton Johnstone. Walk down the path out of curiosity and find, tucked away, the Pt Chevalier Hallyburton Johnstone Tennis Club. These sports facilities were opened in 1927 after bowling enthusiasts made arrangements with the said Mr Hallyburton Johnstone, to buy the property on long-term trickle payments. The bowling and tennis clubs are now in their ninth decade...
Follow the car access out of the property, and you pass an elderly church barely tolerating the indignity of a tacked-on chocolate 1970s-looking reception area. A Presbyterian church until 2010, it's now home to the Serbian Orthodox Church for the Parish of Serbian King St.Milutin.
But back to the club's namesake...
Hallyburton Johnstone
(1862-1949) was a farmer, property investor and benefactor (not to be confused with one of his descendants of the same name, who was a NZ politician).
He actively supported sport - eg: the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield for women's cricket has been contested since 1935. His philanthropy extended to presenting the Auckland Museum with various ornithological specimens and maori artifacts he'd found. He also used to own the Gt.North Road land on which was built the Ambassador Picture Theatre in 1929. The Ambassador still stands, but hasn't shown movies since the mid-80s. At one stage, it was used as an Assembly of God church, and is now a studio for Auckland artist Peter Roche.
Hallyburton Johnstone's interesting life is well-documented in A Waikato Settler's Legacy (researched by Yvonne McCardell).
And an interesting stroll through Pt Chev awaits you any day...

Bullies On The Start Line!

Q: Start a 7yr.old against Usain Bolt in the 100m, and who'd win?
A: The one who didn't make a false start.
The Jamaican sprinter was disqualified from the World Champs 100m final last year after he false-started. But now young kids have been sent crying from a track event in Tauranga, thanks to Running Nazis enforcing Olympic Games rules on 7-year-olds!
At last weekend's Colgate Games, automatic disqualification for false starts reduced young competitors to tears and spurred boos from outraged spectators.
Some of NZ's top athletics coaches say these rules are just too harsh for kids. National track and field coach Chris Palone says the rule, to stop runners making deliberate false starts to gain a psychological edge, came in after the 2009 athletics world champs. Palone (who's coached gold medallist triathlete Hamish Carter) feels "it's inappropriate at this level... common sense should prevail and we can come up with an alternative bylaw."
Brent Ward (coach of Olympian sprinter Chris Donaldson) said young children find it tough to hold themselves in position at the start line. "At that age, they're often not strong enough ... so you're asking kids to do what some of the most skilled athletes in the world find difficult to do. It's an easy way to put them off the sport, rather than encourage them."
But Tauranga Ramblers coach Malcolm Taylor sides with the Running Nazis: "They've gotta be trained to listen to the gun. I'm sympathetic to them, but I think we were trying to be fair at Colgate and the rules had to be adhered to."
The Colgate Games is run by the NZ Children's Athletics Association (NZCAA), which says the rules were created by the Int.Assn of Athletics Federations. So...what? Are they saying "Don't blame us - it was them??!!"
These are children. They no doubt put their hearts and souls into training, and anticipated attending the event so much. Why couldn't NZCAA allow one false start? How hard could that be?
It's vital to encourage sport participation at an early age, not shatter their confidence and eagerness into tears. This is not far short of blatant bullying!

RWC: Marty, Where's The Money?

What say you, Marty?
More than half of NZ tourism operators say the *yawn* Rugby World Cup didn't provide the promised boost.
A Tourism Industry Association NZ members' survey found 46% felt the tournament period was better/much better than the same period in 2010. But almost 18% saw no change, while around 34% considered the tourny period to be worse/much worse.
TIA policy and research manager Simon Wallace says these results support the word-on-the-street: "They told us that while operators in the main game centres did well, other regions did not reap as many benefits as they may have expected from fans travelling around the country between games. There was also a definite shift when the business end of the tournament moved to the North Island."
And even businesses in Auckland, the focal point for those end games, weren't rolling in the readies, with less than 10% feeling they got any benefit from it at all! So...
Dear RWC CEO Martin Snedden,
Please advise when the projected economic boost from the Cup is due. I assume it's still coming, as it's not here yet.
Perhaps all the accounts aren't in. Perhaps there'll be some late ticket sales as souvenirs. Perhaps a few warehouse clearances of the other souvenir mountains. Maybe a tax on whoever's NOT still flying RWC flags and banners. Or Adidas may give some of its profits from excessively overpriced RWC jerseys. Or a wave of tourists coming to see where their teams were beaten.

Ok, here's the deal: you buy the Cup,
and I'll throw in the kid for free!

Perhaps you'll pawn your CNZM from the New Year's Honours...
Y'see Marty, you promised us a cash tsunami to drown all the doomsayers, you poo-pooed negative economic projections as "incredibly flawed", you (and RWC Minister Muddling McCully) did your jingoistic vuvuzela-blowing loud and long.
But we're still waiting.
Yours expectantly,
The Long-Suffering NZ Public."

Was RWC A Wash-Out?

Well, well, well...what a surprise.
Fewer than 10% of Auckland businesses, surveyed on the impact of the *yawn* Rugby World Cup, felt they'd got any benefit from it.
That's one of the findings in a report released yesterday by the Auckland Council Group looking into Auckland's role in hosting the Cup. The survey of 500 regional businesses revealed Auckland firms showed high interest in the RWC, but less than a quarter of them felt any sense of involvement in the events. Over half of those surveyed thought they were well prepared for the tournament, but only 8.9% felt the Cup had benefited them.
Compare that to Kaikoura, with its whalewatching über-drawcard (if anything can draw in the tourists, it's that!). A Kaikoura District Council survey showed a third said the RWC made no impact on their business, and 20% said they experienced a negative impact.
Overseas visitors flocked to stay in pricey (read "obscenely-inflated rip-off") North Island accommodation while Kiwis stayed home. Statistics NZ figures show guest nights for international visitors rose 7.1% during October, the second month of the tourny. But that was offset by a 6.5% fall in domestic guest nights. The overall guest nights figures for the month fell by a total of 1.5%, which sorely showed across the country.
As for the RWC Opening Night debacle in Auckland...seems it was a case of "too many chiefs, not enough Indians"! Tell us something we didn't know! The report says the Government's decision to cancel nationwide celebrations for the opening night (a year out) was partly to blame for chaos across Auckland that night, and left Auckland Council critically short of time to properly organise the night. WTF???!!! A year's lead-up was not - enough - time???
More information on the effects of the RWC on business will be released next April, but I think it's fair to say RWC boss Martin Sneddon's wildly optimistic previews of massive financial gain will be seriously offside!