Posts by Edward Siddle
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Since the idea at the top of the post was that no-one agrees with anybody else's idea, I guess it doesn't matter if people put out their wacky ideas. So here's mine. I'd like to see the NPC abolished and things go back to the pre-1976 situation where provinces played a number of games against other opponents that they had arranged. some of these games would be for shields like the Hanan and Seddon Shields, the Ranfurly Shield (obviously) and so on. Rugby for the glory of it. No doubt the big unions would probably try and organise something for themselves, but why not let them and see how it goes, rather than try than the NZRFU try and impose something artificial on a rugby public that seems to have contradictory desires. It'll be chaos, but whatever. the alternative would perhaps be to abandon the super competition, or at least the franchise system within it and play it more like football's european cup with the top 5 sides from an NPC going into it.
as for the hurricanes point being made above, I would wager that one big reason (not the only) for the change in the emphasis of the Canes was the abandonment of Athletic Park in favour of Westpac Stadium. The latter is a great facility in many ways and well situated for transport and town, but considering there are 23-25 games a year at it requiring a rectangular shaped field, and 1-3 that ideally are played on an oval, it is an utterly not fit for its purpose in my view.
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The All Black jersey is like a tuatara.
possibly, though I believe the seemingly relatively minor change, in 1999, of doing away with the white collars, was where it began to go wrong, particularly as regards World Cups. I realise this is a rather superstitious and silly view, but there you go. I also really really really hate the Westpac Stadium and wish they'd built something rectangular instead, but again, that view doesn't seem to be shared by many except Stephen Jones who all NZ fans love to hate.
mention above of the use of brown in uniforms, and of hoops for football shirts (QPR is another exception i can think of off the top of my head), makes me think of this rather bizarre combo - St. Pauli and Celtic.
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how the memory plays tricks eh? i looked it up and the Vikings actually won the semi final against the bay that I thought they lost. maybe it was the jerseys - so horrendous I just thought they were losers even when they weren't.
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Naly
Ah, the Vikings. Saw them lose a dismal semi-final in the rain in Rotorua in 1997. Best thing about the game was the huge volcano they had in one corner of the ground, that periodically went off with BOP did something good.The Vikings jersey may well be worse than the Auckland one, but then I guess I'm a bit more forgiving of jerseys for such artifically created teams. It is when you've got an absolute classic like the historic Auckland jersey - which of course follows exactly Hayden's general classification of types (horizontal stripes for rugby) - and then ruin it for no good reason, that I think the worst uniform crimes are committed. The same pretty much applies to some of the recent Canterbury jerseys too.
One uniform that I find quite jarring this year is the Man United home strip with its rugby league V. I mean, I find everything about them jarring, but that outfit. Just a bit odd.
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I always thought this was one of the most ridiculous rugby uniforms I have ever seen. Especially when Olo Brown was wearing it. He always looked vaguely sheepish when playing in it.
http://www.mathesonsports.co.nz/image.asp?if=jerseyAKnpcxgold.jpg
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Given that the "great Wallaby era" arguably started in third test of 1978 vs NZ, it's been a pretty lengthy anomaly.
Is Mike the guy who wears cargo shorts, a floppy hat, and bare feet, and spends the game charging up and down the sidelines at breakneck speed? I saw him on Saturday at the Wgtn game and figured he must be pretty fit indeed. I've also noticed him doing the same thing at the Phoenix. Most of the other photographers just tend to camp down at one end and rely on their telephoto lenses to compensate for their lack of movement....
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I'm not sure you need a "but" there - I guess that's why some people (probably me included) think it would actually be good if the NZ football senior men's team had to go a more tough route to qualify - though I'm hardly upset that despite their less strenuous preparations NZ might still pull it off and get to the WC.
While I'm at it, I'd add (in response to Tom's comment right at the top) that very few of the English commentators do seem to have 'working class' accents (whatever that really means). I can't really be bothered googling for youtube clips to support this point, specially since it may well have been made tongue in cheek, but neither Ian Darke or especially Martin Tyler (to name two) could be said to have working class accents.
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Another NZ-centric reason why it wouldn't be good for Oceania to be merged with Asia is that it would deprive our age group teams (both male and female) of relatively easy entry into all the World Tournaments. This is a great advantage and one which I am sure NZ Football will be keen to keep.
In order to give our senior men some tougher competition on a more regular basis, one option would be for the Oceania qualifying comp to be played relatively early in the qualifying cycle, and for the winners of Oceania (in the absence of Australia, it will more often than not be NZ) to then join in with one of the final Asian qualifying groups (either the third or fourth round).
It would make it harder for the All Whites for sure, but not virtually impossible (as would be, say, a two-legged game against a south american team) or else perhaps a little too gentle (like the current tie against Bahrain, which I'm not necessarily suggesting NZ will win, but just that NZ have certainly taken the short route this time round compared to, say, Bahrain).
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Interesting article in the New Yorker recently about American Football and brain damage (quite long and with a slightly strange excursion into dog fighting via the Vick connection).
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/10/19/091019fa_fact_gladwell?currentPage=all
Read it yesterday and then winced my way through the wrap up of the weekend action on espn.
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Nah, can't really agree with the theory. The clapping isn't contentment, it is encouragement - "yeah, more of that boys, but next time score please" is the message.
There's a bit in Fever Pitch (mentioned above) where Hornby discusses whether in a game where your team gets lots of goals, you get diminishing returns of enjoyment and the answer is, well, not really. the more the better thanks. Especially from the Phoenix, who haven't managed more than 1 a game this year which is incredibly frustrating. I take no pleasure in it and it's not why I go along.
Personally I think the German coach of their 1954 World Cup winning team had it right about the point of football in five words: "Das Runde muss ins Eckige". The round thing has to go in the rectangular thing.