00:00:06
Speaker 1: You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast Podcast with Darcy Waltergrave from Newstalk ZB.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: The fish heads have met, and they'll meet again, and again, and again. And again, then possibly, hopefully, maybe they will arrive at a conclusion that will rescue the game of rugby from itself. On Thursday, NZR met with key rugby stakeholders to start hammering out a plan which will, all things going well and good, beat some financial sense into the national game. As it stands, the game will die if the status quo remains. The key question, begging a rapid and brutal answer, is this. Earn more or spend less? Based on conversations with the boss of the New Zealand Rugby Players Association, Rob Nickel, the answer's pretty simple. The game needs to stop spending money on things it can't afford on things it doesn't need. Bog standard budgeting, really, isn't it? Disclaimer, this is plainly a very simplistic assertion from a simple man who was not neck deep in the fiscal weeds of running an enormous and important machine. Just saying. The issue the game faces is this. Every character around the summit table, Super Rugby, NPC, Players Association, NZR themselves, everyone needs a haircut and a shave. No one wants to be the first on the chair when Sweeney Todd opens for business. No one wants to face the prospect of a skinhead or a mullet or a cutthroat blade shave for the benefit of all. No, no, you start. The game isn't poverty stricken as it stands. There is money there, but The trajectory, favourite line of NZR board speak, is boring in and down. Collapsed scrum, broken necks. Like in most households, the cost of living crisis is real. And as tempting as it is to put it all on the plastic and worry about it later, i.e. the ill-advised but impossible to ignore Silver Lake debacle, this is a short-term and fraught process and it is destined for failure. I get the distinct feeling, though. We love feelings, don't we? It's all about the vibe. That David Kirk, chair of the board for NZR, knows exactly what has to happen. And this current series of boardroom exchanges is merely lip service before the buck is enforcedly stopped right there. That'll do.
00:02:39
Speaker 1: For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave, listen live to Newstalk ZB on Saturday mornings or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast Podcast with Darcy Waltergrave from Newstalk ZB.
00:00:12
Speaker 2: The fish heads have met, and they'll meet again, and again, and again. And again, then possibly, hopefully, maybe they will arrive at a conclusion that will rescue the game of rugby from itself. On Thursday, NZR met with key rugby stakeholders to start hammering out a plan which will, all things going well and good, beat some financial sense into the national game. As it stands, the game will die if the status quo remains. The key question, begging a rapid and brutal answer, is this. Earn more or spend less? Based on conversations with the boss of the New Zealand Rugby Players Association, Rob Nickel, the answer's pretty simple. The game needs to stop spending money on things it can't afford on things it doesn't need. Bog standard budgeting, really, isn't it? Disclaimer, this is plainly a very simplistic assertion from a simple man who was not neck deep in the fiscal weeds of running an enormous and important machine. Just saying. The issue the game faces is this. Every character around the summit table, Super Rugby, NPC, Players Association, NZR themselves, everyone needs a haircut and a shave. No one wants to be the first on the chair when Sweeney Todd opens for business. No one wants to face the prospect of a skinhead or a mullet or a cutthroat blade shave for the benefit of all. No, no, you start. The game isn't poverty stricken as it stands. There is money there, but The trajectory, favourite line of NZR board speak, is boring in and down. Collapsed scrum, broken necks. Like in most households, the cost of living crisis is real. And as tempting as it is to put it all on the plastic and worry about it later, i.e. the ill-advised but impossible to ignore Silver Lake debacle, this is a short-term and fraught process and it is destined for failure. I get the distinct feeling, though. We love feelings, don't we? It's all about the vibe. That David Kirk, chair of the board for NZR, knows exactly what has to happen. And this current series of boardroom exchanges is merely lip service before the buck is enforcedly stopped right there. That'll do.
00:02:39
Speaker 1: For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave, listen live to Newstalk ZB on Saturday mornings or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
