A lot of former rugby fans go straight to the wildlife programmes these days.
Rugby is a confusing, boring mess. It only works — and often superbly — at the highest test level where every muscular moment feels momentous, particularly in the world’s best stadiums.
But for day-in day-out entertainment, it sucks on and off the field.
Smith’s specific complaints involve games being over-refereed, stoppages and the constant use of the advantage rule.
World Cup-winning Black Ferns coach Wayne Smith. Photo / Photosport
I’d go much further.
The match-turning moments are usually hairline decisions involving incidents you can barely make out.
Most of the game involves players smashing into each other. There is little beauty or open-field artistry in rugby anymore, apart from the odd classic offload — like Akira Ioane’s try-creating pass for Caleb Clarke at Eden Park on Saturday.
Rugby has become a crowded stop-start shambles shaped by incomprehensible technicalities, controlled by referees who will get marked out of their careers if they let anything go.
There have been endless rescue attempts via rule tweaks and hardly any of them have had the desired impact.
Off the field, it doesn’t provide the news or views to keep the crowd interested.
Over time, rugby has proved to be a game that is unsuited for the professional arena. The problems — I would argue — are insurmountable.
The Fijian side represents a rare piece of success for the ailing Super Rugby competition.
Rugby’s powerbrokers have spent years patronising and ignoring Pacific rugby, a disastrous policy on so many fronts.
The All Blacks should have been playing regular tests in Pacific countries instead of protecting their record and image by always playing at home.
It would be fantastic to see a team like Fiji able to make a genuine run at winning the World Cup, rather than being used to provide a bit of sporting romance.
LOSER: The Eden Park rebuild proposal
The so-called crosstown match between the Blues and Moana Pasifika was the perfect advert for what Auckland really needs — a boutique football stadium with a capacity between 25,000 and 30,000.
All those empty seats at Eden Park told the story, of the stadium and the state of the national game.
Rugby would be among the major beneficiaries if Auckland had a stadium that actually suited the city’s needs, rather than an overblown vanity project designed to bail out a white elephant.
LOSER: The latest Warriors whinge
Referee Todd Smith talks to Tohu Harris and Demitric Sifakula of the Warriors. Photo / Getty
You could see it coming — blame the refs when things start going wrong.
I’m sure there will be a lot of takers, after the boss of the Auckland NRL club’s chief sponsor let fly on social media, accusing the NRL referees of cheating.
The crazy outburst by One NZ chief executive Jason Paris certainly caught the attention, highlighting what some Warriors fans have been moaning about for a long time.
But suggesting referees are on the take, that it was “cheating of the highest order”, is just stupid and almost certainly defamatory.
“Have they got money on them to lose?” Paris asked foolishly, as the Warriors lost to Penrith.
Paris could do worse than consider a public “heat of the moment” apology then double down in a more legitimate way if he truly believes there is a bias against the club.
The Australian sports business is so cutthroat compared to what goes on in this country.
The Warriors need to learn how to operate in the environment, not rail against it and hard-to-prove injustices. The cry-baby stuff will get them nowhere, and keep fostering a debilitating excuse-making culture within.
Of course it’s so easy to set an anti-Aussie bandwagon in progress.
What I see from the Warriors at the moment is a poorly organised attack, a team not kicking on from the promising foundations laid in the opening rounds.
What I’ve seen over the long haul is ineptitude from the Warriors on many levels. They have been their own worst enemies.
But if you want to believe that the three decades of failure can be blamed on referees, feel free.
LOSER: Horse racing
Seven horses died at the Churchill Downs track in the lead-up to the famous Kentucky Derby in America. Tragic. Disgraceful.
WINNER: Lakers v Warriors
Basketball’s glamour western conference semifinal is baffling, gripping. It’s also turning into the Anthony Davis show. Hard to see Steph Curry and LeBron James playing second fiddle any longer though.
LOSER: Wellington Phoenix
The A-league side went down in a do-or-die playoff match against Craig Goodwin’s Adelaide without much of a fight.
WINNER/LOSER: Max Verstappen/F1
Verstappen won in Miami and looks well set for an F1 championship three-peat. His dominance is a problem for F1 though.
