Black and White

Night and day. Chalk and cheese. The above title doesn’t just refer to the obvious colour difference in their attire. It’s about the teams’ abilities, the selections, possibly the coaching and definitely the way the respective national bodies operate.

I am, of course, talking about the All Blacks and the All Whites.

Firstly the footballers. To get it out of the way, that performance in Mexico was appalling. The Men in White offered a hapless midfield and almost nothing on attack. But their defence; oh my god. An A-League team would not have provided that much space to opposing attackers. The number of free headers whereby Mexicans rose unchallenged in the New Zealand penalty area was embarrassing.

On not many occasions does a team concede a fiver and you can say the keeper had a great game, but you can in this instance. Glen Moss was absolutely superb. He made several world class saves and without his outstanding performance the score could easily have hit double figures.

Some of coach Ricki Herbert’s selections were puzzling to say the least. Winston Reid’s injury was extremely unfortunate as he is far and away our best defender. And I didn’t have a problem with Herbert playing Tony Lochhead at left back, although you’d probably have to say his career at this level is pretty much done now. But some selections just didn’t make sense to me.

Jeremy Christie lives in the United States and can’t find a club team to take him on. Leo Bertos is now a bit-part player for the Phoenix and seems to have lost more than one yard of pace. Ivan Vicelich is 37 years old, is at least four years past his best and looks thoroughly out of his league at this level these days. Rory Fallon was a national hero in 2009 but now plies his trade as a journeyman in Scotland and is surely not an international-level player anymore. I also think Shane Smeltz offers more at the top level than Jeremy Brockie, who seems to disappear from view far too often. And Marco Rojas, although still coming back to full fitness, should probably have got more minutes on the pitch than he did.

And the tactics; sigh. While it would’ve been crazy to play all-out attack and risk conceding goals on the break, it was equally ineffective to sit back in midfield and defence and let the speedy, skilful little Mexicans run the game and pass, pass and then pass some more. Whenever the Kiwis did manage to get some possession they, as I read in one on-line commentary, initiated a classic old game of ‘forceback’ as they took NZ football back 35 years by bashing the ball down the middle of the park as far as they could without any thought of holding onto the ball or creating any pressure of their own. I really hope they can salvage some pride next Wednesday at the Westpac Stadium. I’ll be one of the 37,000 in attendance hoping and praying for the 4-0 miracle to become reality. Time to give some of the young fellas a go. What do we have to lose?

But their problems go much deeper than one game. As an organisation, NZ Football/Football NZ seems disorganised, rudderless, leaderless and relatively clueless. From player availability for their clubs (Phoenix) prior to departure to scheduling of appallingly insufficient warm-up matches to advising that the players would be available for media duties upon their return without first consulting them (although that was handled abysmally by the team’s management); everything they do seems uncoordinated, amateur and clumsy.

Football is by far the biggest sport on the globe and it is being run as if we are still living in 1979. When the All Whites came within a coat of paint of beating Italy in the 2010 World Cup and progressing to the knockout stages of that tournament, New Zealand Football should have capitalised and grown the game here. But they didn’t really seem to do anything. Any youth development in this country comes courtesy of private academies such as those run by ‘Ole’ or Wynton Rufer.  After our only other appearance at the World Cup in 1982, NZ Football sat on their hands and didn’t do a lot to grow the game when they had a prime opportunity to do so. Looks like nothing much has changed in 30 years.

Contrast that with the All Blacks. Success breeds success. Their on-field triumphs over many years have become world famous. As a result they have become a marketer’s dream and the big bucks have come rolling in. Now players can be retained (although the number of players at junior level not being retained does concern me) and developed, the brand grows even further and the juggernaut rolleth onward. In 2013 they have won 13 out of 13, despite referee Craig Joubert’s decidedly average, and relatively one-sided, display of officiating in the test against England this weekend, and should realistically defeat Ireland next week to complete the first professional-era unbeaten international rugby season.

Off the field too, everything is slick. The players and coaches (including Mumbly Hansen) are available to the media frequently when I’m sure they’d often rather be walking into the dressing room or just be somewhere else. The multitude of sponsors also get their money’s worth I think. And the NZRU, although I’m certainly not saying I agree with everything they do, provide leadership and clear direction for their money-makers dressed in black.

And rugby is nowhere near as big a sport as football.

So what should Football New Zealand do? Promote the All Whites. Schedule international matches that actually matter and that create some level of interest amongst the New Zealand public. Create a Bledisloe Cup equivalent. Get local football shown on TV. Move football, at least at the senior level, to the Summer (I seem to recall this being tried previously but I don’t know if or why it didn’t work). Work with academies to identify young talented players, ensure they’re linked to a club in NZ and if they’re good enough, actively work to find them overseas contracts. It may cost a little bit now but we have so many potentially excellent players in this country that the pay-off could be huge one day.

This is the End

This weekend saw two sportsmen pull the pin on long and illustrious careers.

Sachin Tendulkar will undoubtedly be remembered as one of the all-time greats of the game of cricket. He made his international debut for India as a 16 year old in 1989. He finished, in his 200^th test match (!) with a typically composed 74 before being caught in the slips and making his way back to the pavilion for a final time as the Indian crowd sat and stared in silent disbelief before erupting into emotion-charged cheers and applause. ‘The Little Master’ will without doubt be mentioned in the same breath as the incomparable Sir Donald Bradman. Indeed Bradman himself once said that Tendulkar was the only modern player who reminded him of himself in terms of the way he played. Praise doesn’t get any higher than that.

David Tua also called it quits after his loss to genetically-modified Russian gigantor Alexandr Ustinov, whose head was only slightly smaller than Tua in his entirety. Despite reports to the contrary, I thought Tua looked beaten when he walked out. There wasn’t the old fearless determination behind his eyes anymore and Tua himself said he felt he was done after the fifth round.  He tried his best but ultimately he’s probably too small to beat a big top-rate heavyweight. I always remember when Tua fought Lennox Lewis for the Heavyweight Championship of the World in 2000. 99% of Kiwis, including me, jumped on the ‘Tua’s gonna knock him out’ bandwagon. But Sir Robert Jones, who is well known for his boxing nous, bet $30,000 (I believe that was the figure) on Lewis to win. When quizzed on why, he simply said ‘Tua is too small’. And, unfortunately, Sir Bob was right.

Tua beat some very good heavyweights along the way, including future titleholders Rahman and Ruiz. But if he came up against a good ‘big ‘un’ who had a strong jab, he invariably couldn’t get inside to deliver his killer hooks.

Tua deserves better than what he’s ended up with. He was at one stage worth millions when managed by Kevin “Botox’ Barry and Martin Pugh. Through his supposed prime boxing years, rather than fighting in the ring, he was fighting those two in the courtroom. Tua, without reservation, trusted Barry and Pugh with his $20 million fortune. I wouldn’t care to make any allegations or insinuations, but I would suggest Joseph Parker Googles “Martin Pugh” and reads the first article that appears before he agrees to any deals with Barry…

After several years of inactivity, a bankrupting legal battle, a financially disastrous ‘deal’ with Maori TV ($50k for each of three fights) which wasted more time that he was fast running out of and finally a divorce, Tua now drives a mini and lives in his gym in South Auckland.  He says he’s happy, and he probably is. Tua appears to be a genuinely caring person who always regards the glass as half-full, not half-empty. He has achieved far more than any other Kiwi/Samoan boxer in the modern era.

I hope he is remembered for his achievements as there were plenty. I hope he carves out a successful career in politics. And I hope he finds happiness; he deserves it.

Till next time,

SG