The system always wins
PLUS: A bumper edition of The Week That Was allied to an enticing volume of The Weekend That Will Be.
Have to confess to a degree of sadness reading about Aimee Fisher’s potential return to “the fold”.
Fisher is due to meet with Canoe Racing NZ officials next week to discuss a potential return to the women’s squad – a move that could pave the way for the 27-year-old to rejoin the team boat programme… The development signals a thawing of tensions between Fisher and the national body, who have endured an adversarial relationship for much of the past two years.
Fisher had become something of a heroic figure after quitting the national programme because of athlete welfare concerns. She proved you can win outside the System by taking home world championship gold in the K1 500m last year and taking the GOAT Lisa Carrington to the wire in a run-off for the world championship spot earlier this year.
Like something out of Orwell though, the System always wins.
“Stepping out of the system I think it was a matter of trying to show, ‘Hey, there’s a different way,’ and shining a light on that.
“I’m ready to work together with Canoe Racing NZ. Some people might see that as backing down, but there’s only a small window where you get to be an athlete and chase your dream.”
You can’t blame Fisher at all, but the above quote to Stuff’s Dana Johannsen is telling. She won a world championship, she’s proved herself to be pretty much the second best K1 500m sprint paddler in the world. Yet the only way she can realise her dream is to return to a programme she hated so much she quit in disgust.
If you want a snapshot as to why high-performance sport in New Zealand has become so alienating to so many young athletes, that’s it right there.
As a famous author once ominously said (and to make it clear, he was not directly referencing HPSNZ): “No one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it.”
THE WEEK THAT WAS
I’m not quite sure how I missed this at the time but The Spinoff’s Duncan Grieve went to the rugby and then booked the UFC pay-per-view headlined by Israel Adesanya’s latest middleweight title defence. He didn’t so much see synergies as he saw a version of rugby’s future.
NZ Rugby has completed the hard stuff in selling Silver Lake to a highly sceptical internal and external audience. It has priceless heritage, a superb core brand in the All Blacks, immense upside in the Black Ferns, along with provincial unions and Super Rugby sides which could be so much more with investment and strategy. It has completed a very challenging regime change of chair and CEO (if not All Blacks coach).
Now all that remains is the transformation of the code into one which can compete and win against the globalised juggernauts of the international sporting universe... It’s also a bigger and more existentially important prize.
It’s sharp analysis, well worth a read and contains the now obligatory reference to the drivetosurvivisation of modern sport1. The All Blacks actually tried that once and created some of the most boring wallpaper programming ever seen.
Rugby is going to have to get better, more digital, more sales savvy and more fingertip-available in our lives. To do that NZR will have to be reduced to a nervous onlooker as the newly formed CommercialCo attracts new audiences without alienating the demographic that has kept rugby afloat - the older, conservative, affluent male who buys Sky subscriptions, World Cup and Lions Tour packages and 5% lagers.
The legend of Bazball continues to grow after the stunning and frankly ludicrous 378-3 chase to beat India at Edgbaston. Most telling revelation: McCullum plays Bruce Springsteen on his Bluetooth speaker in the changing rooms. I can’t think of a less cricket-y artist than the class-conscious Springsteen, but seeing as you never asked for it, here’s my five favourite Bruuuuuuce tunes (they change from time to time):
Racing in the Street
Born to Run
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Thunder Road
The River
Can’t believe some of the songs I’ve left out: “Atlantic City”, “The Ghost of Tom Joad”, “Badlands”, “4th of July, Ashbury Park (Sandy)”, “Blinded by the Light”… even if I can’t imagine New Jersey’s finest in whites, it’s a canon worthy of non-stop playlist for a five-test series.
It isn’t the easiest sell to direct readers to a story about tennis umpires, but this is good fun.
The drop intro about Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios’ behaviour at a tournament in Miami is disturbing.
At one point in the second set, when Kyrgios was ready to serve, Bernardes instructed a ballgirl to pick up a loose ball, to which the Australian reacted with sarcastic applause. When the crowd joined in, booing and heckling the umpire, Bernardes decided to say something. “I know you’re against me, but just some respect,” he said over the tannoy. Kyrgios went on to lose the match, calling Bernardes a “fucking retard” as he walked off the court. Afterwards, in interviews and on Twitter, he continued to inveigh against Bernardes. “I’ve never been a part of a match where an umpire was hated that much,” he said.
The Warriors have a new coach, and given he’s not the incumbent Warriors or Kiwis coach, it’s a bit left field. Anybody coming out of Ivan Cleary’s coaching tree at Penrith must have a bit about them though, so good luck.
He won’t have Reece Walsh to call upon though, with the fullback the latest Australian to use the club as a clearing house to further their careers.
The whole thing has created a bit of a stink in Brisbane, where new club Redcliffe are furious they were not allowed to negotiate with Walsh, with his former club Brisbane Broncos given exclusive rights.
THE WEEKEND THAT WILL BE
That rare test where each coach seems to be under as much pressure as the other. It has been rather mean-spiritedly suggested that the All Blacks’ thumping success last week was due in part to Ian Foster’s absence and the elevated role of Joe Schmidt, so any sign of regression at Forsyth Barr Stadium will be feasted upon. Ireland on the other hand were callow, and Andy Farrell’s suggestion they deserved a pat on the back not a kick up the backside rang a bit hollow. Should be a doozy under the roof.
All Blacks v Ireland, Dunedin, tomorrow 7pm, Sky Sport 1
Speaking of coaches under pressure. There’s one here, and it’s not Dave Rennie.
Australia v England, Brisbane, tomorrow 10pm, Sky Sport 1
I’d like to enjoy Wimbledon more but the time zone is horrific and I don’t love grass court tennis enough to watch full replays in the morning. A final involving two players who’ve never been this far before? Kazakhstan v Tunisia?! I can manage that. Unless Cam Norrie can upset Novak Djokovic in the semi, I’ll give the men’s a miss though - it’s too hard watching something when you desperately want both players (Kyrgios and Djokovic) to lose.
Elena Rybakina v Ons Jabeur, London, Sunday 1am, Sky Sport 2
I wouldn’t say it’s the cricket series I’ve been most looking forward to this year but hey, I’m an addict.
Ireland v New Zealand, 1st ODI Malahide, Sunday 9.45pm, Spark Sport
While the Black Sticks do not play again until the quarterfinals of the Hockey World Cup (Spark), keep an eye on the crossover action. We’ve had action over the flats, the cobbles and rolling countryside, but the Tour de France gets a bit lumpier now as the peloton makes its way to Switzerland and into the Alps (Sky). The F1 roadshow hits one of the few remaining classic circuits, the Österreichring, now less classically known as the Red Bull Ring, for the Austrian GP (spark).
A curious modern phenomenon where the success of something within a broad realm (sport) is thought to be easily transferable to everything else within it. DTS works in F1 because of the cartoonishly garish owners and principals, the extraordinary risk involved in driving fast cars and the glamour. I don’t think it’s a plug-in-and-play formula for other sports. Just like The Sun enjoyed tremendous success with its Page 3 Girls within the broad realm of media, it wouldn’t have worked at the Daily Telegraph, heaven forbid.
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I think Eoin Morgan’s retirement was notable this week (yes, like
most NZ tragic’s, still getting over that game too). As much as Baz maybe changing things (and producing results) Morgan’s time in their white all setup has had some influence also I believe.