League in la-la land
Being an avid sports fan, trying to earn a living from watching sport is a pleasurable way to while away the hours - most of the time. Sometimes it can become a grind - 6 nights in a row watching Champions Trophy cricket springs to mind - and very occasionally, along comes a sporting event that I wish I never placed a bet on as if it wasn't for the financial involvement, I'd go and do something more stimulating like the dishes.
Saturday night's league test between Great Britain and NZ being a case in point. 80 minutes of dross. Thankfully, we can rely on Rugby League to provide the entertainment after the final whistle and sport's equivalent of soap opera has provided us with the following:
(a) GB coach getting his knickers in a twist over the timekeeping. "This will be on your conscience for the rest of your life", he reportedly told the match controller, who was in turn "pissed off" by the comment. Perhaps the GB coach would be better served by tending the roses in his own backyard; let us just say that the timekeeping was on a par with the performance of the two teams on the paddock. The timekeeping did not deprive them of a win; their own inept play did (not that the Kiwis deserved it any more).
However what was intriguing was the NZ's coach sly dig in return: "Funny things happen in their part of the world as well, but I'd better stay clear of that". No, don't stay clear of that - spill the beans; nothing like childish retaliatory accusations to make up for the lack of entertainment on the field.
(b) the judiciary clearing British prop Adrian Morley of punching Brett Webb. Now I am not advocating Morley should have been suspended - as a punch goes, it looked like one thrown by a hooker on a street corner than by the enforcer of British league, but the press reported the judicary committee cleared Morley principally because Webb was the aggressor, apparently using his "elbow in an aggressive manner" towards Morley.
Yeah, right. I really can see the smallest guy on the field picking a fight with Mr Hardman on the opposing team, but even if he did, since when has retaliation been an allowable defence? Opening up a can of worms me thinks.
(c) but of course the media have been kept busy over the questionable eligibility of Nathan Fien for the Kiwis team, and this is where the amusement value goes up a few notches, especially thanks to the statements by NZRL Chariman Sel Bennett. For those not up with the play, it has transpired Fien's great-grandmother was born in NZ, not his grandmother as seemingly required by the International RL Federation rules. Enter Bennett on Monday:
"We can't see anything in it. The rules state grandparents, it doesn't state grandparent."
Que? So by pluralising a word we now can jump generations can we? After a day of radio talkback where every man and his dog expressed the opinion that grandparent (plural or not) means your mum's mum or your dad's dad (for the sake of completeness, I will also mention mum's dad and dad's mum), we see this morning that it was busy yesterday at the Chairman's desk as some RL-friendly journo kindly informs us that the definition of grandparents as "your parents' parents" was dropped in 1999 by that well-known authoritative source Black's Legal Dictionary (no, I've never heard of it either), as well as Oklahoma Case Law which apparently includes great-grandparents in the definition of grandparents.
God help New Zealand if we start relying on case law from the good ole' US of A. I'm sure the National Front of NZ could find a few titbits from "Oklahoma Case Law" to further their cause too. Maybe I should do the American thing and sue NZRL for wasting 80 minutes of my life on Saturday night.
No amount of blustering from their chairman can overcome the simple fact that NZRL fucked up. And because of aforesaid cock-up, NZRL are scared they're going to lose the two competition points and possibly a place in the Tri-Nations final because of it. Enter Bennett this morning:
"The Warriors losing points is too fresh in our minds. We got stitched up there and we don't want it to happen again."
Que? The Warriors lost points because they cheated the salary cap. We may lose the Tri-Nations points because NZRL didn't check hard enough into a player's eligibility. Sometimes when you make a mistake, there is a price to pay - although apparently not if NZRL had its way. No wonder sports administration in this country sometimes has a bad name.
Saturday night's league test between Great Britain and NZ being a case in point. 80 minutes of dross. Thankfully, we can rely on Rugby League to provide the entertainment after the final whistle and sport's equivalent of soap opera has provided us with the following:
(a) GB coach getting his knickers in a twist over the timekeeping. "This will be on your conscience for the rest of your life", he reportedly told the match controller, who was in turn "pissed off" by the comment. Perhaps the GB coach would be better served by tending the roses in his own backyard; let us just say that the timekeeping was on a par with the performance of the two teams on the paddock. The timekeeping did not deprive them of a win; their own inept play did (not that the Kiwis deserved it any more).
However what was intriguing was the NZ's coach sly dig in return: "Funny things happen in their part of the world as well, but I'd better stay clear of that". No, don't stay clear of that - spill the beans; nothing like childish retaliatory accusations to make up for the lack of entertainment on the field.
(b) the judiciary clearing British prop Adrian Morley of punching Brett Webb. Now I am not advocating Morley should have been suspended - as a punch goes, it looked like one thrown by a hooker on a street corner than by the enforcer of British league, but the press reported the judicary committee cleared Morley principally because Webb was the aggressor, apparently using his "elbow in an aggressive manner" towards Morley.
Yeah, right. I really can see the smallest guy on the field picking a fight with Mr Hardman on the opposing team, but even if he did, since when has retaliation been an allowable defence? Opening up a can of worms me thinks.
(c) but of course the media have been kept busy over the questionable eligibility of Nathan Fien for the Kiwis team, and this is where the amusement value goes up a few notches, especially thanks to the statements by NZRL Chariman Sel Bennett. For those not up with the play, it has transpired Fien's great-grandmother was born in NZ, not his grandmother as seemingly required by the International RL Federation rules. Enter Bennett on Monday:
"We can't see anything in it. The rules state grandparents, it doesn't state grandparent."
Que? So by pluralising a word we now can jump generations can we? After a day of radio talkback where every man and his dog expressed the opinion that grandparent (plural or not) means your mum's mum or your dad's dad (for the sake of completeness, I will also mention mum's dad and dad's mum), we see this morning that it was busy yesterday at the Chairman's desk as some RL-friendly journo kindly informs us that the definition of grandparents as "your parents' parents" was dropped in 1999 by that well-known authoritative source Black's Legal Dictionary (no, I've never heard of it either), as well as Oklahoma Case Law which apparently includes great-grandparents in the definition of grandparents.
God help New Zealand if we start relying on case law from the good ole' US of A. I'm sure the National Front of NZ could find a few titbits from "Oklahoma Case Law" to further their cause too. Maybe I should do the American thing and sue NZRL for wasting 80 minutes of my life on Saturday night.
No amount of blustering from their chairman can overcome the simple fact that NZRL fucked up. And because of aforesaid cock-up, NZRL are scared they're going to lose the two competition points and possibly a place in the Tri-Nations final because of it. Enter Bennett this morning:
"The Warriors losing points is too fresh in our minds. We got stitched up there and we don't want it to happen again."
Que? The Warriors lost points because they cheated the salary cap. We may lose the Tri-Nations points because NZRL didn't check hard enough into a player's eligibility. Sometimes when you make a mistake, there is a price to pay - although apparently not if NZRL had its way. No wonder sports administration in this country sometimes has a bad name.
Labels: opinion
posted by Rob Crawford at 9:50 AM
1 Comments:
Bloody hell! Can anything else go wrong for NZ Rugby League?
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