22 miss Super 14 start

[shasta]

Heard Mitch on ABC radio this mornig talking about the Derby. Sounds like he enjoys the game and been to a few of them courtesy of the Eagles and Freo.
Pretty cluey around.

Yeah. As if we're not getting "derbied" wall-to-wall as it is. But then to turn on Inside Rugby and get even more - sheesh.

Even worse he's a bloody Eagle fer chrissake

Car-na-DOCKERS!

[uglybob]

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,...-23217,00.html

maybe not anymore?

[Darren]

Good on 'em (Fox) I say!

[The Lone Hydrangea]

News Limited has the upper hand here and will invoke the "best endeavours clause" without a doubt. To quote Wayne Smith( rugby editor, The Oz) News Limited should belt the 3 rugby unions over the head with a rolled up copy of the SANZAR contract, tell the three countries to stop this nonsense and field their best Super 14 teams and then all three World Cup contenders will be handicapped with the same weight!
Jesus H christ, now is he right, or his he right.

[The InnFORCEr]

He (like your good self) is right

[The Lone Hydrangea]

[frontrow]

Damn straight your right, tlh

[Happy]

The latest from NewsCorp - good on em!!!! I totally back this, they have paid huge amounts of money to broadcast the best the tri nations can give. This isn't Super 13.5 Amature Tri-Nations Rugby!!

It's all bad News over NZ cup plan

Greg Ford
Sunday, August 27, 2006

Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd last night crash-tackled All Blacks coach Graham Henry's master plan to win the World Cup. News Ltd has threatened legal action over Henry's plan to rest players from the Super 14 competition next year.

News Ltd claims the New Zealand Rugby Union's decision to rest 22 All Blacks from the first seven weeks of the Super 14 is a breach of its TV broadcasting contract.

Murdoch's organisation criticised the plan last week, but the relationship appears to have deteriorated since then, with News Ltd corporate affairs director Greg Baxter slamming the NZRU.

"It's black and white," Baxter said. "Standing down All Blacks [for the Super 14] is a breach of contract. We were not even consulted and we are not happy about it."

News Ltd paid the southern hemisphere partnership - South Africa, New Zealand and Australia (SANZAR) - $664 million to broadcast the Super 14 and Tri Nations for the five years until 2010. It's money that keeps NZ rugby afloat.

When NZRU chief executive Chris Moller announced the controversial decision, he said all relevant stakeholders had been consulted. It's apparent Moller didn't call the biggest stakeholder in the business.

Speaking from Pretoria last night, Moller defended that decision: "We've taken legal advice to make sure our situation is the correct one.

"The obligation is to make sure the pre-eminent players are available.

"Through the All Blacks' rotation policy we have been playing other players and we didn't go to News in respect to that. We take the view it's not a dissimilar exercise."

News Ltd, clearly, disagrees.

"I don't think [Moller's] logic stacks up at all," Baxter said.

"Obviously he has got his own advice and we don't know all the detail of what that advice is. It is privileged to them and we don't want to get into a legal fight with them. But if he thinks he's under no obligation, he's wrong. It's that simple."

A legal stoush, pitting the NZRU against Murdoch's corporate muscle, would be disastrous for NZ rugby.

[The Lone Hydrangea]

Trouble at mill, Mr Henry!

[frontrow]

The Kiwis think they are gonna get away with that, they got another thing coming i reckon.....SPLAT.....thats the sh*t hitting the fan

[Darren]

can't remember the song, but the chorus was:

"You gotta get by the best that you can,
you gotta duck when the shit hits the fan"

words to live by me thinks ...

[Burgs]

Bit like "You've got to drink the froth to get the beer" Boss
So long as Australia don't do it, it would be great to think that the Forces' NZ fixtures are just that little bit easier to win!

[.X.]

Bit like "You've got to drink the froth to get the beer" Boss
So long as Australia don't do it, it would be great to think that the Forces' NZ fixtures are just that little bit easier to win!

a bit like the old saying;
life is like a sh*t sandwhich,
how much sh*t you eat depends on how much bread you got


Lets Call Mr Murdoch the Baker - he hands out the bread

[Darren]

From: www.Stuff.co.nz

Chairman Jock Hobbs and chief executive Chris Moller have done so little wrong in their tenure at the New Zealand Rugby Union that the main reaction to the bunfight with News Ltd has been that the spat actually happened.

We've become accustomed to safe but clever stewardship out of Wellington HQ with the pair who secured the 2011 World Cup sub-hosting rights at the helm.

Along the way other vital goals have been achieved, including Sanzar's renewal of its broadcasting deal with Rupert Murdoch's News.

It is that five-year deal, worth $US323 million to the New Zealand, Australian and South African unions, that is now being fought over after News reacted badly to plans to rest All Blacks from about half of next year's Super 14.

Spokesman Greg Baxter was forthright, claiming the NZRU had not spoken to News about its plan.

While Moller has now acknowledged the union should have done more to talk to News, he continues to defend New Zealand's position which makes me think there's more to this than meets the eye.

Hobbs and Moller are extremely intelligent professionals, well versed in the heady situations where contracts are negotiated, signed and enacted.

The union is saying there are reasons it didn't go to News directly, and I have to think both men were aware of that and it was a key reason why things have played out the way they have.

In a perfect world, nobody needs to look at a contract.

I work in the sports venue signage business and I like the contract to stay in the bottom drawer of both parties. It invariably does when the relationship is good.

It seems it only comes out when there is a problem.

That is my main concern.

The commercial side of me can understand why News would be antsy. But I would also hope News is being fair and will take on board some reasonable points the NZRU is entitled to make in defending its position.

For example, it's not as if New Zealand has let News down in terms of our contribution to the Sanzar product it purchased.

Our teams have dominated Super 12 and now Super 14 and we win the Tri Nations more often than not.

That's helped the News-owned Sky TV network become firmly entrenched, propelling it from red ink in the account books into black off the back of rugby.

And even though we rotated and rested players throughout the series, we have won this year's Tri Nations in a canter.

Therefore, there is an argument that pulling 22 All Blacks out of half of next year's Super 14 is less harmful to News than letting the politically-motivated South African union enforce a basket case franchise, the Southern Spears, on the competition.

Yet, despite the real potential of the Spears becoming whipping boys, and next year's Super 14 not having a team in it from Johannesburg, we do not hear News taking the long handle to Sarfu.

I am unsure how actively News gets involved with sports bodies on the shaping of competitions and formats. Maybe it tells the rights-holders what type of content it wants and how much, and the sports bodies go away and construct their competitions accordingly.

Perhaps they simply say: "Tell us what competitions you have and we'll value them."

Maybe it's a bit of both.

My point here is that perhaps News has some culpability around the product it ends up with. We now have so much rugby product with such a small gap between the end of one season to the beginning of the next, that the All Blacks management team has taken measures to ensure there is a proper rest and reconditioning period prior to the 2007 season.

I can't help thinking that we wouldn't be hearing too much from News if it held the broadcasting rights to the Rugby World Cup.

In fact, it would probably be quite happy for All Blacks to be rested during the Super 14 if it meant a more dazzling tournament for the Webb Ellis trophy.

# Grant Fox is a former All Blacks first five-eighths.

[The InnFORCEr]

the pair who secured the 2011 World Cup sub-hosting rights at the helm.

Sub hosting sound like 2003 all over again