Monday, April 01, 2013

Revenge of the Nerds; NZ Edition

Feisty mother rucker Deborah Hill Cone puts the boot into children forced into contact team sports. It sits nicely apposite last week's story of a big boy who wasn't allowed to play rugby with kids not his size (although it seems quite trite next to the story of slavery and stargazing by Jeff Tallon).

I'm standing by with a shovel for that inevitable moment where the rugby myth finally carks it and we can bury it in the graveyard of bad ideas. Reckon it'll be a match-fixing scandal that strikes the fatal blow.

In the meantime, we'll just have to wait patiently. Maybe read the SPARC report that shows how lacklustre and hollow the sport has become. Less than six percent of the population played rugby at least once a year (2007/8). Rugby doesn't even make the top 20 NZ recreational pursuits (it's 21st).

Grow up, NZ. Get rid of those Foreskin's Cement concrete boots and lighten up.