KEY POINTS:
I suppose it's no wonder rugby's popularity is declining. We have more options when it comes to watching sport, thanks to Sky. We're also a far more diverse and multicultural society. As one of the few people who watches Super 14 games on the weekend, I'm amazed at
the number of people at the Auckland home games who clearly don't have a drop of Anglo-Saxon blood running through their veins.
There are Indian families, Chinese kids, wee Japanese girls - it's extraordinary. And just as well they go along in support of their adopted game, otherwise the crowd would be even more sparse than it is.
I can't be bothered going to the Super 14 games in person. I miss the up-close-and-personal aspect of rugby. Sometimes when I'm walking past a park and see a game of club rugby going on, I'll stop and remember what it used to be like.
You used to be able to get so close to the game that you could hear every grunt and thud as players were tackled. There's a fantastic smell associated with real rugby games too - a mixture of grass and mud and sweat and liniment and you simply don't get that now with the prepackaged, processed, Chesdale version of the game. As with all creatures, the rugby player must adapt to the new world in which it lives or it will go the way of the dinosaur.
Cricket's done phenomenally well to cope with changing demands and appetites. I wouldn't mind popping over to India to watch a couple of the league games there, especially if you could count on Brendan McCullum being on form. It's all glitz and bash and Bollywood dancers and cool gold helmets - not cricket as we know it, but entertainment none the less.
There's only so much you can do with rugby - as we've seen with the tinkering of the rules in a futile attempt to make the game more watchable. The problem is there's simply too much of it and if you gorge yourself, you get sick.
Rugby is the victim of its own success - and perhaps its own greed. I'll keep watching - but then I have 43 years of rugby-watching behind me because for much of that time, it was the only game in town.