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Image: Getty / Archi Banal
Image: Getty / Archi Banal

OPINIONSportsOctober 26, 2022

All Blacks vs Black Ferns: Incompetence from NZR even worse than malevolence

Image: Getty / Archi Banal
Image: Getty / Archi Banal

After scheduling an All Blacks test at the same time as the Black Ferns’ quarterfinal, NZ Rugby has revealed the reason behind the decision.

New Zealand Rugby has addressed accusations of undermining and sabotage after the All Blacks match against Japan was scheduled at the same time as the Black Ferns’ World Cup quarterfinal this Saturday.

The Black Ferns will play Wales in Whangārei with a 7.30pm kick-off. Meanwhile, the All Blacks will start their Northern tour by playing the Brave Blossoms in Japan with a 6.50pm NZT kick-off.

There’s an unwritten rule in New Zealand politics – one that has been duly followed since the dawn of time – that general elections won’t be scheduled on the same day as an All Blacks test at home. Every three years, when the prime minister sits down to discuss possible election dates, the All Blacks schedule will be noted. That’s how much attention the All Blacks grab.

This is understood by the prime minister, it’s understood by event coordinators around the country and it’s understood by broadcasters. If you want eyes on your show, match, polling booth, make sure it’s not happening at the same time as the All Blacks are playing. It’s apparently not understood by NZR because at some point in the past two months, they agreed to schedule an All Blacks match at the same time as the Black Ferns’ World Cup quarterfinal in Whangārei.

The clash has been widely criticised as a deliberate attempt to undermine the tournament and women’s rugby as a whole, with Spark Sport’s Scotty Stevenson commenting on Instagram that the decision from NZR points to larger issues within the organisation. “How an organisation can do this intentionally, when it undermines its own team, when it disadvantages its own fans, and when it only serves to illustrate its own hollow rhetoric when it comes to its support of the women in the game no longer surprises. It only serves to reinforce the belief that those in decision making roles are just not fit for purpose,” he wrote.

The Black Ferns play rugby in front of 34,000 fans at Eden Park (Image: Hagen Hopkins/Getty)

Rumours swirled around the possible motivation behind the scheduling, given the match in Japan is being played at 2.50pm, a time that suggests wriggle room on either side if NZR had insisted on not playing at the same time as their women counterparts. Was it a deliberate move to draw attention from the women’s tournament? Was it a commercial move on behalf of Sky to compete with Spark Sport in the same time slot?

Today, in a written statement, NZR addressed the clash and revealed the reason behind the schedule clash: They forgot that the Black Ferns were playing on Saturday.

“Unfortunately, when Japan Rugby set the kick-off time for the All Blacks Test, NZR did not take into account the Rugby World Cup stipulation that the host nation would play in the Quarterfinal 2 timeslot regardless of pool results and may inadvertently cause a clash,” read the statement.

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Madeleine Chapman
— Editor

Somehow this feels worse than if it was revealed to be some strange attempt to sabotage its own team. At least a deliberate sabotage implies that NZR thought about the Black Ferns for more than five seconds when making decisions. Instead, the reason is oops we forgot to look at the draw for the tournament that we are playing in and that we are hosting. 

“NZR did make a request to Japan Rugby to move the kick-off time but we respect the reasons provided for not being able to shift the time.” Putting aside the fact that NZR is a behemoth in world rugby and has a lot of pulling power if it decided to use it, a belated request to move the kick-off time for the simple reason of incompetence is hardly a compelling ask.

Since the schedule was released, Black Ferns players have had to plead with fans to watch their match and save the All Blacks game to watch on delay afterwards. That senior players are having to argue against their own organisation for viewers’ attention while playing at home in a World Cup quarterfinal is…many things.

But it’s also unsurprising. New Zealand Rugby has demonstrated over and over that it pays little attention to the women’s game, so much so that it appears commercially foolish. Even the most cynical, misogynistic  businessman would know that a global tournament and thousands of new fans (read: customers) would warrant some affordable merch or collectibles or something. But there’s none of that and now we have a plausible explanation: New Zealand Rugby forgot that the Black Ferns were playing.

Keep going!
One of the few pieces of Black Ferns merch and the new Black Ferns NFTs
One of the few pieces of Black Ferns merch and the new Black Ferns NFTs

OPINIONSportsOctober 19, 2022

Does New Zealand Rugby know there’s a World Cup happening?

One of the few pieces of Black Ferns merch and the new Black Ferns NFTs
One of the few pieces of Black Ferns merch and the new Black Ferns NFTs

The Rugby World Cup could very well be a success on all fronts – despite New Zealand Rugby’s apparent disinterest, writes Mad Chapman.

Two weeks into the Rugby World Cup and the Black Ferns have all but secured a quarter final spot after their comprehensive win over Wales on Sunday. They’re not the tournament favourites (England’s Red Roses are the frontrunners) but the team is easy to support, with arguably the most media and fan-friendly players of any New Zealand rugby side. 

Despite a number of barriers to engagement (games only played in Auckland and Whangārei, television broadcasts delayed or on paid platform Spark Sport), interest in the tournament so far has been heartening. A great (but not sold out) crowd at the opening day, and a huge 340,000 watching the delayed free-to-air broadcast at home. World Rugby has facilitated marketing and merchandise and tournament sponsors like ASB have been highly visible. So why does it feel like there’s been little-to-no interest from New Zealand Rugby in meaningfully promoting the tournament and the Black Ferns?

Nielsen television ratings, featuring delayed rugby coverage at number eight.

The merch

I have a Black Ferns jersey so personally I’m doing fine. But that jersey was acquired by being extremely annoying and somehow brokering a personal favour from the prime minister. Thankfully it doesn’t take Jacinda Ardern to get your hands on a jersey any more, with official Rugby World Cup editions available at the official NZR shop (URL: allblackshop.com) which you can get to by visiting the official NZR website (URL: allblacks.com). The jerseys are $150. 

If you can’t afford a jersey, NZR recently (like, since the tournament began) added a beanie ($30) and a rain poncho ($25). You can also buy a replica ball ($50), a picture book about Kendra Cocksedge ($15 and it’s unclear if this is Black Ferns merch), or my favourite, a Black Ferns merino shawl for the cool price of $399. 

Those are your options as local fans of the home team in the hosting country of the Rugby World Cup.

Black Ferns merch in the All Blacks shop

The Stat Attack cards 

Sanitarium is a NZ Rugby partner with “a long association with NZ Rugby” and “a proud legacy of the Weet-Bix and All Blacks brands being promoted together”. Shortly before the World Cup, Sanitarium released the latest round of Weet-Bix Stat Attack cards featuring New Zealand rugby players for kids to collect. The cards include most All Blacks (including some who were subsequently dropped from the squad after the cards were printed), the All Blacks coach, and a number of former legendary All Blacks including the late Jerry Collins. (An aside: as a relative of Collins’, it’s a bit jarring to see his face on a cereal box six years after his death.)

The Stat-Attack cards are still available throughout the World Cup but none of the cards feature Black Ferns. It’s assumed that young girls also eat Weet-Bix and also that young boys are interested in good rugby players who aren’t men. When asked for a reason as to why the Black Ferns weren’t featured, Sanitarium said it had “included the Black Ferns in Weet-Bix promotions in the past and are looking to again in the future”.

Neither New Zealand Rugby nor Sanitarium answered questions regarding the cards and whether including Black Ferns during the World Cup was discussed.

The All Blacks

Where are they? One would assume that someone who plays rugby for a living would be a rugby fan, but very little has been seen of current players supporting their women’s team. At the opening day, I spotted Dan Carter and thought that was nice. Then I realised Chemist Warehouse is a tournament sponsor and he was likely there in his role as a chemist ambassador.

Otherwise, I saw no cutaways to All Blacks watching from the stands or in a corporate box. Compare that to the WNBA where, with a few exceptions, NBA players are the most vocal fans of their women counterparts. So much so that players often end up chastising their own fans for disrespecting or dismissing women players in the comments sections of their supportive posts.

So far, the All Blacks account has posted one picture on Instagram as a show of support at the start of the tournament, with no current All Blacks (that I could see in my searching) sharing any public posts about either the tournament or the Black Ferns specifically. 

No, there’s no obligation for the All Blacks to publicly support the Black Ferns, but maybe there should be. The WNBA has grown thanks in no small part to the league-wide investment from the NBA. When paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to play sport, the contract comes with other duties like sponsorship appearances, media and community events. In the NBA, an expectation of public support for other leagues is also included, and readily adopted by the biggest stars (LeBron James leading from the front). Why not here?

The NFTs

Sometimes I think New Zealand Rugby couldn’t possibly do less to support its women players and then it buys 33 NFTs “in a show of support for the Black Ferns”.

Yes, it’s as ridiculous as it sounds. New Zealand Rugby’s commercial arm decided to invest in NFTs. In a statement on its site, NZR references Web3, MoonPay (a Web3 infrastructure company) and World of Women, an NFT digital art collection. 

In what appears to be a partnership with Web3 companies, NZRC has invested in 33 NFTs. And as “a show of support for the Black Ferns”, has purchased NFTs of women. Not the Black Ferns themselves, just random women. 

Nothing can be done with these NFTs, and, by the looks of the market, it’s unlikely any return will come from this investment. Perhaps that money could’ve been invested in some more accessible merch rather than putting the token in Non-Fungible Tokens.

‘Love The Spinoff? Its future depends on your support. Become a member today.’
Madeleine Chapman
— Editor
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