The public knows that on recent form, neither Harbour nor Counties-Manukau deserve to be there anyway, says Peter Williams
After friday's decision to retain the status quo in the Air New Zealand Cup, for at least another year anyway, it's fair to ask once more - just who is running rugby in this country?
How come the NZRU, the richest sporting body in New Zealand, with annual revenues in excess of $100 million, can still be dictated to by provincial unions with a precarious financial position and little more than parochial self-interest at heart?
Perhaps it's because there's a growing realisation at head office that rugby's real fan base is shifting from the big cities and into the provincial centres like Napier, Palmerston North and Invercargill.
Even with three teams from greater Auckland in the Air New Zealand Cup, domestic rugby just fails to capture the public's imagination in the country's biggest city.
It's not helped by the dreadful records during the last three seasons of North Harbour (9th, 12th and 12th) and Counties-Manukau (14th, 13th and 14th).
If one or both of those teams was taken out of the competition and the focus left just to Auckland, would there be that much of an outcry? I somehow doubt it.
The public knows that on recent form, neither Harbour nor Counties-Manukau deserve to be there anyway.
When the Canterbury Rugby Union, home of the most successful domestic teams in the last decade, starts selling season tickets for 2010 nearly 60 per cent lower than for this year, you know the game is facing some serious problems getting fans through the gate.
Canterbury supporters may now have become complacent about success - the way they were in Auckland during the 1980s and 90s.
But then maybe they were just sick of the reconstruction at AMI stadium and will be back in their droves, cheap prices and all, next year. The CRU certainly hope so.
The problem for the NZRU is that by the time the Air New Zealand Cup comes around, many potential customers in the five main centres have already had their full quota of rugby for the year.
After a Super 14 season and an All Blacks test, it's pretty hard to encourage people to go to another six or seven Air New Zealand Cup games, especially if the star players don't front up.
But in the provinces it's different. There's no Super 14 residue to worry about; the All Blacks are a team you only see on TV or when you go to the big smoke for a test. That lack of rugby fatigue means supporters are much keener than their city cousins to go to the ground.
So when the provinces who were threatened with relegation start fighting for their positions, the NZRU wisely decided to listen. Head office knows that while rugby's fan base might be eroding in the big cities, it has to be maintained and nurtured in the provinces.
That's a key reason why the current Air New Zealand format, with its seemingly never-ending 13-week, round-robin season, is being retained for one more year.
The NZRU also know that if you keep the fans in the provinces happy, they might buy some expensive Rugby World Cup tickets next year - and with the 2011 tournament facing a loss likely to be close to $50 million, every sale counts.
But this respite is only going to last a year. Everyone, except the most parochial, knows that a 14-team Air New Zealand Cup is utterly unsustainable.
The little guy has won for now, but it's only a stay of execution for four unions. They've won two battles for survival, but with the NZRU reserves sure to be diminished by the World Cup, Jock Hobbs and Steve Tew just can't afford to keep an oversized and inefficient competition going beyond next year.
