theres way more skill involved in every other sport. Does a soccer team all line up in row and pass the ball in one direction?

// and being able to fling an oval ball to left or right.

compared to soccer, where you ... what ... kick a ball with your right or left foot?

Which you get to do in rugby as well.

// and being able to fling an oval ball to left or right.

compared to soccer, where you ... what ... kick a ball with your right or left foot?

Which you get to do in rugby as well.

me and ole noizyboy here don't often agree on many things but it sounds like we are both on the same page which says something haha..and I don't think noizy is the greatest rugby fan either... but I could be wrong.

// I don't think noizy is the greatest rugby fan either

only moderately fanatical compared to some crusaders fans.

//only moderately fanatical compared to some crusaders fans.

So your shrine is still under construction then? hahahaha

//I just visit my mum's when I'm home in chch.

If I was a better person,I would resist the urge to say something about "oh yes, I like to visit your mother's 'shrine' too". But rugby talk bores me and so instead I will head straight to the gutter, safe in the knowledge that you can delete this comment if you want to.

//I think you've been hanging out with too many rugby players dan.

I am a rugby player jackass. Daniel Carter is not a big guy at all.

//How a bunch of guys running forward in unison, passing the ball from to left or right, kicking it to touch or having a scrum....how is that in any way interesting?

It's not what they do it's how they do it. People find motorsport fucken insanly interesting but I find it the most boring thing on earth right next to golf.

//Enlighten me - what he fuck is so fun about watching that? Where are the tactics, the ball skills like in soccer or basketball etc?

Kicking for position on the field, setting up mid field rucks to work off set play moves, pinning the other team in their 22m and setting up to score tries, breaking tackles, running lines and getting through gaps in the defence. Seeing Ritchie McCaw make a tackle get back on his feet and rip the ball frmo the guy he tackled and turnover possession it all takes incredible skill.

//What is there to talk about?

Plenty. If you know what you are talking about which you quite obviously don't.

//every other sport involves more skill than rugby.

No you are wrong there, League - involves some passing, hits ups tackleing and kicking. Soccer only invovles kicking a ball. Netball involes passing a ball and putting it in a hoop likewise with basketball.

Rugby involves all of those things plus a shit load more. Kicking, running, passing, rucking, mauling, goal kicking, tackling, scrumming, lineouts,

//There is nothing to this game.

No once again, there is plenty to this game youo just have no idea because you don't like the game and you are a typical stereotype of someone who hates rugby. Quick to judge the game without actualy getting to understand it.

//The fact that so many macho spuds dedicate their whole lives to this dull sport is no surprise, but so many er, geeks, like it too - or pretend to like it, as if it gives them some indentity... so sad. We need to find a new natianal pastime. Rugby is boring.

You are an ass. Where you ever involved in team sport? Do you have many friends? Do you play soccer? How many games of rugby have you actaully watched from start to finish?

Find the Crusaders game from last friday, one of the greatest Super Rugby tries was scored in that game around to 70 minute mark. The ball went the length of the field, through about 8 sets of hands and the Crusaders ran through about 8 defenders and the drawing and passing was beautiful. Even some uneducated neh saying piece of shit like you should appreciate it.

You and people like YOU are boring actaully.

Rugby is our national game, either deal with it or fuck off, but don't act like you speak for everyone in this country because the overwhelming majority of people LOVE rugby in this country.

It is people like YOU that are wrong with this country not rugby.

//yes your right Dan, its obviosely non-rugby lovers like myself who are the problem with New Zealand

No I have nothing against non-rugby lovers, I just have something against people like you who are obviously bitter about the success of rugby in this country...newsflash it's pretty much the only fucken sport we are good at along with netball and cricket...sometimes

It's not that hard rdor, just fess up and say " I don't understand rugby" and I will forgive you.

I don't get what people see in soccer but over half the world can't be wrong can they? Should we motion for the worlds number 1 game to be changed as well?

If you don't like Rugby just deal with it because it wont change and it is only going to get bigger next year being world cup year.

Oh and ahh rdor you are going to LOVE it when 2011 rolls round...thats when NZ holds the RUGBY WORLD CUP competition.

Nay.

Well at my club there is around 30 teams of around 28 players each plus coaches parents so we will say maybe 2000 yays plus there are like 60 clubs in Auckland alone.

120,000 yays, then if you multiply that by all the clubs in NZ which would range in the thousands most likely, you are looking at a cool million people at least and that is just from people who are direcetly invovled with the sport either through playing, coaching or being parents supporting their kids.

The fact that NZ can pack out 3 Lions tests with stadiums of 40,000, 50,000 and 45,000+ people and also sell out smaller stadiums for the other provincial games with around 6 or 7000 people at each game. Plus sell out all tri nations games that come to NZ, PLUS we WILL sell out stadiums every time NZ plays at the World Cup in 2011 in fact the public demand for tickets will far outweigh the actaully supply of tickets available for sale.

I think it is a pretty safe bet to say that the greater population of NZ is in favour of rugby.

It is not NZ's national game for nothing.

// Show of hands here - do you love rugby? Yay or nay.

A double nay for me - one for the game, and one for those folks who love it but hurl abuse at those who do not: not cool at all. My lack of interest in rugby has me in a bind: a wee friend of mine wants me to go watch the Heineken Cuo final with her this weekend, and while there's a big yay for her, there's a compellingly big nay for the game. I think I may have to go out of town, watch the Renderers or something.

nay

yay

you get munters at shihad gigs... that dosn't mean shihad suck.
dickheads at rugby matches are nothing compared to the english football hooligans

dickheads drinkin and throwing bottles is not really rugbys fault, rugbys very popular and as D. brash would say mainstream so would easily become a focal point for that lame sort of behaviour.. or maybe it's a Dunedin thing, maybe Dunedin's just full of rugby head retards

or perhaps simply a small brain phenomenon

//or maybe it's a Dunedin thing

or maybe it is an alcohol thing...

so you're saying that the 'national importance' of any given sport should be based on the number of spectators who turn up for the game? not the popularity of the sport as based on the number people who actually play it?

which makes our national summer sport, what ... soccer?

//so you're saying that the 'national importance' of any given sport should be based on the number of spectators who turn up for the game? not the popularity of the sport as based on the number people who actually play it?

Well if you combine the numbers that play with the number who watch then I would say you have a fairly decent indication of what sport is the most imporant in this country.

Compare what happens when the Ab's lose, or even when the Black caps lose which is pretty fucken regularly to when the All Whites lose, or even the NZ softball team or hockey team, it just doesn't really register on the national importance meter, don't get me wrong it does register but it's only really a minor tremor.

But Soccer is by far the most popular game in the world by like 3 billion people or something like that but it really doesn't register very high on the importance scale in NZ.

true

//if you can't support the only sport new zealand is consistently good at, why not find something else to get your knickers in a twist about?
//

hah do you think that if other nations gave rugby any where near the attention we give it, that the all blacks would have a chance? Lucky for us, people in other countires like more interesting sports.

The whole rugby culture is such a laugh in nz. Like for eg. Anton Oliver had to explain to the media why that he liked to colect art......., as if he had to defend it . A player who was into something other than Rugby. oh no.

// Yeah rugby might be entertaining for some people,
/ great, but Itd be good to see it as one of many sports, not THE sport.

You don't have to buy into the whole 'rugby is the national game' spin, is all. As I started to try and point out to Dan yesterday, there are many other sports that have larger participation bases in NZ - soccer amongst them. Just because the media decides to focus their energy on rugby (based on the fact that we are pretty successful at it), there's no need to buy into it.

Is this actually as pointless as a 'my favourite band is better than your favourite band' argument?

// new zealand is consistently good at,

all the 'sit-down' sports: rowing, yachting, equestrian.

we now punch well above our weight in basketball, one of the few truly global sports.

obviously netball, but that's only ever going to be a 2-horse race (likewise league, a 3-horse race).

we've had world-class triathletes winning major races and world championships consistently over the last couple of decades.

I think at the end of the day it comes down to attitude .

When the AB's lose a test match we all try to find out what went wrong, look to place blame on people, look to sack the coaches and the captain etc. The world is a black dark hole and all that shit.

But when other teams lose like the All Whites or the Black caps it is kinda expected so we accept it far more easily, even if the Silver Ferns lose the public is gutted and hate that we have lost but the ariwaves aren't flooded the next day with callers on radio sport who openly critisize anyone who had a bad game like they do when the AB's lose.

The Com games is a prime example. We expect our netball and 7's teams to win gold and accept nothing less, but our swimmers got like a million 4ths and for some reason we just accept that and say "well done" and give them a pat on the back for trying and everyone is best friends. But we don't dare argue that we should have done better etc or that we sack the coaches or manager of a particular team and all that.