All this talk of McAlister coming home ... what about me and my un-sports hero ilk? I did not come back to NZ because my lucrative egg ball contract came to an end; I came back to New Zealand because it is my bloody home, because I wanted to be back in the same country as my family, and because when I want to eat fish n chips I want it to be freshly cooked in front of me, by a smiling cook ... not stewed by some hunchbacked illiterate Limey, in oil brought back from Dunkirk, and left for three hours under a sun lamp. Sheesh.
Even The Listener was getting in on the act with its cover story this week - High Flyers. What a load of old arse. If they were such high bloody flyers they would be able to ride things out over there, instead of coming back here like prodigal sons & daughters, attempting to multiply economic activity merely by wafting their Air Points cards across the great unwashed.
Sample of the ‘typical’ Kiwis the Listener says are coming home: a journalist, an IT specialist, a research scientist, a global marketing project manager, and a cardiologist. What about all the call centre workers, accountants, landscape gardeners, lawyers, plumbers, admin staff, marketers, drivers, teachers & nurses? I get that the article is aiming at the so-called best and brightest, but it actually ignores the lesser twinklers, people like... well me.
I have got 15 years experience in the graphics/advertising industry - I’m looking for a job, and finding it bloody hard. I am stoked to be back here, but its going to take me a while to find work. I left a very enjoyable (and safe) job in London to come home, and I knew it would be a lot harder to find work once I got back here - no illusions. I just think that the Listener article should have focussed on common reasons why average Kiwis were coming home, and what their hopes were. Instead it looks like it was done via Facebook asking disparate friends a few Twitterish questions, and the journalist the story opens with never even bloody left the UK! What a twist!
Jesus, you can see why I have The Guardian’s website bookmarked if this is the sort of tosh you have to pay for here.
And if anyone out there knows what a ‘global marketing project manager’ actually does, feel free to let me know. It sounds like the sort of role you would put on your application for The Apprentice ... but then again, I’m looking for a new job.
PS In regards to the bankers & The Crunch though, check Boon out. Ditto.
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
New IRB Rankings
It feels like this is turning into an England bashing forum, but I am not making any of this up - rather it illustrates their slide. The new IRB rankings are out, and they have slipped to 8th ... their lowest ever.
Look at the graph below and this charts the four semi-finalists from RWC 2003 (which England won) from straight after the tournament until the end of 2007 (beyond which the IRB website AnalyCon won’t go past).
Besides the Red Rose plummet, it also shows that the pesky Wallabies and Les Bleus are always sniffing around the podium, and that New Zealand is consistently No. 1 in the world... bar for one week every fourth November, eh. Go Adidas!!!!!
For editorial balance I have stuck in South Africa as well - separately, as the chart only dies 4 years at a time. In a way it shows they have come the farthest - could be an interesting Tri Nations.
Look at the graph below and this charts the four semi-finalists from RWC 2003 (which England won) from straight after the tournament until the end of 2007 (beyond which the IRB website AnalyCon won’t go past).
Besides the Red Rose plummet, it also shows that the pesky Wallabies and Les Bleus are always sniffing around the podium, and that New Zealand is consistently No. 1 in the world... bar for one week every fourth November, eh. Go Adidas!!!!!
For editorial balance I have stuck in South Africa as well - separately, as the chart only dies 4 years at a time. In a way it shows they have come the farthest - could be an interesting Tri Nations.
Monday, 2 March 2009
King Frank
I’m with Frank Bunce on this one, and he is royalty after all. I think Luke McAlister should play in a New Zealand comp first before being picked for the All Blacks. Despite his obvious class and ability to play 10 and 12, the guy has been playing for Sale Sharks in the England’s Guinness Premiership and I think its fair to say that on day to day basis that league is below the standard of our Super 14 and Air NZ Cup ... certainly it lacks the intensity & pace needed to just let you swan into the Tri Nations. Sorry, but its true; the league may have a more professional structure, based as it is on the private ownership model of Premiership Football, but its dour play and inconsistency are all to visible in England’s style (or lack thereof).
And anyway, the NZRU making special dispensations for its marquee players is an idea that’s already down 0-1 ... look at Carter’s injury. Both he and Lukey went over to ultimately experience Heineken Cup finals rugby; neither of them got there, unlike Byron Kelleher at Toulouse.
It may well be that as Britain’s cash strapped millionaires tighten their belts and lose interest in forking out for minority sports like rugby, so the financial carrot dangling for our players might shrink.
Martin Johnson is also saying he will pick players based in England over those plying their trade in France’s Top 14 (which matches Warren Gatland’s leanings towards Magners League players for Welsh selection), so the days of us losing prime ABs to the Northern Hemisphere may be coming to a close.
Might get a Lotto ticket this week - after all, weekend just gone was a clean sweep: Hurricanes, Black Caps and West Ham won ... that NEVER happens.
And anyway, the NZRU making special dispensations for its marquee players is an idea that’s already down 0-1 ... look at Carter’s injury. Both he and Lukey went over to ultimately experience Heineken Cup finals rugby; neither of them got there, unlike Byron Kelleher at Toulouse.
It may well be that as Britain’s cash strapped millionaires tighten their belts and lose interest in forking out for minority sports like rugby, so the financial carrot dangling for our players might shrink.
Martin Johnson is also saying he will pick players based in England over those plying their trade in France’s Top 14 (which matches Warren Gatland’s leanings towards Magners League players for Welsh selection), so the days of us losing prime ABs to the Northern Hemisphere may be coming to a close.
Might get a Lotto ticket this week - after all, weekend just gone was a clean sweep: Hurricanes, Black Caps and West Ham won ... that NEVER happens.
Sunday, 1 March 2009
What a load of rubbish
Not my headline at all, but that of the Guardian’s Eddie Butler in review of England’s latest Six Nations effort. It seems they are still flopping around off their feet like the fatties they are, incapable of giving a pass to unleash their “wing three-quarters”, and getting binned quicker than the copy of ‘Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus’ my mum got me for a birthday present five or so years back. They have leaked 30 points so far in the 6N while players were in the bin, and are apparently cheating in blatant fashion. He said it.
Its clear England’s intent has moved beyond 10 man rugby, but 14 seems to be their favourite number this season. The Red Roses’ failure has put the Irish on track to for a Grand Slam title this year (providing they beat Scotland and then Wales), but unlike Wales’ clear dominance of last year’s competition, I am not sure Ireland are head and shoulders above what is an average field. If Wales are indeed in a slump, then it may indeed be a hard task for McGeecan to get the Lions up to threaten with the Springboks later this year - though I can’t wait for that tour.
Meanwhile here ... the Canes ‘A Team’ pulled off the Big One down against the Soldiers of Christendom, I mean the Crusaders. Nonu back on form apparently. I’ll admit I was at the T20 game between India and NZ in Wellington, so I only saw the rugby on bar visits, but the nods of the blokes inside the lounge seemd to indicate a much improved performance, and many “toldyasos” about Weepu at 10.
Though now aren’t we chasing Lukey’s signature again? Been there before though; his Dad said no, and we ended up with Spongbob Squarepants at first five for two seasons.
At least it has put their season back on track, barring any train wrecks on the road in South Africa.
Still, I‘m a bit more into the Indian cricket tour at the moment, the Rockstars as they call them. Loved the way our bowlers restricted an incredible batting line up to such a moderate score, and despite the hiccups, our boys swung the willow at the right time.
It is great that our pitches are more conducive to good cricket now, and we are not relying on those green monstrosities that were producing 15 wickets a day on the last tour by India. We have to compete with the ‘Rockstars’, even if our new load of Young Guns are still a bit pub rock.
Be back the Caketin for the ODI this week. Mmmm, overpriced, warm, plastic-tasting beer.
Its clear England’s intent has moved beyond 10 man rugby, but 14 seems to be their favourite number this season. The Red Roses’ failure has put the Irish on track to for a Grand Slam title this year (providing they beat Scotland and then Wales), but unlike Wales’ clear dominance of last year’s competition, I am not sure Ireland are head and shoulders above what is an average field. If Wales are indeed in a slump, then it may indeed be a hard task for McGeecan to get the Lions up to threaten with the Springboks later this year - though I can’t wait for that tour.
Meanwhile here ... the Canes ‘A Team’ pulled off the Big One down against the Soldiers of Christendom, I mean the Crusaders. Nonu back on form apparently. I’ll admit I was at the T20 game between India and NZ in Wellington, so I only saw the rugby on bar visits, but the nods of the blokes inside the lounge seemd to indicate a much improved performance, and many “toldyasos” about Weepu at 10.
Though now aren’t we chasing Lukey’s signature again? Been there before though; his Dad said no, and we ended up with Spongbob Squarepants at first five for two seasons.
At least it has put their season back on track, barring any train wrecks on the road in South Africa.
Still, I‘m a bit more into the Indian cricket tour at the moment, the Rockstars as they call them. Loved the way our bowlers restricted an incredible batting line up to such a moderate score, and despite the hiccups, our boys swung the willow at the right time.It is great that our pitches are more conducive to good cricket now, and we are not relying on those green monstrosities that were producing 15 wickets a day on the last tour by India. We have to compete with the ‘Rockstars’, even if our new load of Young Guns are still a bit pub rock.
Be back the Caketin for the ODI this week. Mmmm, overpriced, warm, plastic-tasting beer.
Sunday, 22 February 2009
Home again.
Back in Nu Zild, escaping the Credit Crunch for now ... maybe if things get worse we can just get Ben to “move the island”?
But due to relocation costs back from the UK, a Sky subscription is a long way off for my house so I have been unwillingly weened off telly sports; no Premiership (ironic considering I can see more live games here in NZ), no re-fed Channel 9 cricket (I’m loving Radio Sport’s ABC feed though), and no Super 12 ... sorry, old habits ... Super 14 en mi casa either. How do I cope? Easy. I am one of the handful of chumps to renew their Cake Tin season passes again.
I kept these cursed things the whole time I was in the UK. Through a mix of friends using them and reimbursing me, and then giving other games or entire seasons out to family, I have retained a spiritual presence in Aisle 14, but going for the first two rounds this year I am questioning it. I believe the initial season pass sales broke the 15,000 barrier in the early Noughties; this year it has fallen to about seven thousand? Pathetic.
We used to have ‘buddies’ sitting next to us in the near capacity crowds back in 2001-2003 ... the same punters who turned up every week to watch the Canes, and to put up with relentless barricking from my Waikato mate when we played the Chiefs or the pure Mooloo Bell Ringing Lunatics in the NPC. Now they are gone and I am surrounded by a sea of empty yellow plastic, and the vista across the stadium is no better. Plus some Random Fat Bloke (RFB) has taken a liking to my seat the last two weeks and I reckon he may be some sort of porky jinx - not a problem when there is no shortage of seats, but its the priniciple. Bleedin’ liberties.
Hurricanes? Well, its like watching an episode of The Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm these days - I do it with hands raised to my face, occasionally fanning my fingers apart and peering sheepishly through gaps. The Warratahs game was, frankly, cack and last Friday night just as bad except for the fact they somehow won it in the 35th minute or something. Nuts. How the hell all these pundits were putting the Hurricanes down as favourites for 2009 is beyond me. There is no on field leadership there, and against the Highlanders they looked rudderless for long periods again. Crusaders next week - Ouch. If they make the playoffs, hell will be a very cool place ... and Vietch will be fronting an ad campaign for Womens Refuge; he could take his mate Deaker door to door.
I am honest enough to be clear on one thing though: I am keeping my season passes through to any clear entitlement that gets me 2011 World Cup tickets. That’s really why I will keep turning up .. I mean, I love going, but this year there is no benefit to having a season ticket. You can turn up 15 mins before kick-off and sit anywhere you please. Its all very well for Wellington Rugby to say they look at providing value for their loyal season ticket holders, and that they look to survey those members every year, but I have NEVER been asked my opinion or offered any sort of special deals or upgrades despite forking out thousands of dollars (more fool me!) over the last 8 years.
I’ll be there every week though - torturing yourself through team support is all part of it. Why back Man U when can I suffer as a West Ham fan? Why back the Ngati One-Eyes in red and black, when a bunch of (mainly) local kids can deplete my pleasure receptors every week or so?
Hopefully things will pick up, but the rugby is anything but ‘super’ at the moment. Its as faded and saggy as Captain Hurricane’s flight suit. Maybe we all need a bit of what Matt Stevens is on?
But due to relocation costs back from the UK, a Sky subscription is a long way off for my house so I have been unwillingly weened off telly sports; no Premiership (ironic considering I can see more live games here in NZ), no re-fed Channel 9 cricket (I’m loving Radio Sport’s ABC feed though), and no Super 12 ... sorry, old habits ... Super 14 en mi casa either. How do I cope? Easy. I am one of the handful of chumps to renew their Cake Tin season passes again.
I kept these cursed things the whole time I was in the UK. Through a mix of friends using them and reimbursing me, and then giving other games or entire seasons out to family, I have retained a spiritual presence in Aisle 14, but going for the first two rounds this year I am questioning it. I believe the initial season pass sales broke the 15,000 barrier in the early Noughties; this year it has fallen to about seven thousand? Pathetic.
We used to have ‘buddies’ sitting next to us in the near capacity crowds back in 2001-2003 ... the same punters who turned up every week to watch the Canes, and to put up with relentless barricking from my Waikato mate when we played the Chiefs or the pure Mooloo Bell Ringing Lunatics in the NPC. Now they are gone and I am surrounded by a sea of empty yellow plastic, and the vista across the stadium is no better. Plus some Random Fat Bloke (RFB) has taken a liking to my seat the last two weeks and I reckon he may be some sort of porky jinx - not a problem when there is no shortage of seats, but its the priniciple. Bleedin’ liberties.
Hurricanes? Well, its like watching an episode of The Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm these days - I do it with hands raised to my face, occasionally fanning my fingers apart and peering sheepishly through gaps. The Warratahs game was, frankly, cack and last Friday night just as bad except for the fact they somehow won it in the 35th minute or something. Nuts. How the hell all these pundits were putting the Hurricanes down as favourites for 2009 is beyond me. There is no on field leadership there, and against the Highlanders they looked rudderless for long periods again. Crusaders next week - Ouch. If they make the playoffs, hell will be a very cool place ... and Vietch will be fronting an ad campaign for Womens Refuge; he could take his mate Deaker door to door.
I am honest enough to be clear on one thing though: I am keeping my season passes through to any clear entitlement that gets me 2011 World Cup tickets. That’s really why I will keep turning up .. I mean, I love going, but this year there is no benefit to having a season ticket. You can turn up 15 mins before kick-off and sit anywhere you please. Its all very well for Wellington Rugby to say they look at providing value for their loyal season ticket holders, and that they look to survey those members every year, but I have NEVER been asked my opinion or offered any sort of special deals or upgrades despite forking out thousands of dollars (more fool me!) over the last 8 years.
I’ll be there every week though - torturing yourself through team support is all part of it. Why back Man U when can I suffer as a West Ham fan? Why back the Ngati One-Eyes in red and black, when a bunch of (mainly) local kids can deplete my pleasure receptors every week or so?
Hopefully things will pick up, but the rugby is anything but ‘super’ at the moment. Its as faded and saggy as Captain Hurricane’s flight suit. Maybe we all need a bit of what Matt Stevens is on?
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