Otago people should be feeling equal amounts of surprise and guilt at the anaemic ticket sales for the July 22 test at Carisbrook.
Equal, as in zero.
It was always going to be an exceptionally tough sell, this test, even with all the goodwill surrounding the money it hopes to raise for the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.
The reasons are threefold:
1 We've already said goodbye, at All Black level, to Carisbrook. That all happened last year. That was an easy sellout because people wanted to see the last test at the 'Brook. They got T-shirts made up and they held on to their ticket stubs.
2 Just around the corner is the Rugby World Cup, with no fewer than four big games in Dunedin. It's a fair assumption that both casual and devoted rugby fans are much more excited about that.
3 It's Fiji. And, rightly or wrongly, the Fijians are regarded as cannon fodder on the rugby field. They are asking people to pay $60 to $120 to watch a rugby game they know will be brutally one-sided. The old theory that people go to watch the All Blacks simply doesn't stack up.
I actually have some sympathy for both the Otago union, which is trying hard to promote a game it probably didn't want, and the New Zealand union, which wants to give half a million dollars to Christchurch.
But it would be unfortunate if (a) the real last test at Carisbrook was a half-full dud, and (b) that was seen as seen as some sort of sign Otago people don't support the All Blacks.
• Otago ...
One of the more disturbing trends in sport has been the attempt by organisations to distance themselves from their provincial support base.
That was the biggest problem I had with the stupid Highlanders green jersey. It wasn't the colour; it was the misguided notion the franchise somehow had to separate the team from its provincial background in order to establish a new identity.
What's at the heart of sport, besides the glory of competition and the dual quests of improvement and achievement?
It's identity. Representing something - and somewhere - bigger than yourself.
The Highlanders ditched the "Otago" name a long time ago, and fair enough, given the team has a broader reach. But they must not forget they only exist because they represent the people of the South.
• ... and proud of it
More worrying, two genuine Otago teams - both of whom should probably focus more on winning games - appear to be trying to ditch the name of the province that gave birth to them.
The Otago Nuggets have been in our ear for two years, trying to force us to call them the OceanaGold Nuggets.
And now the Otago rugby team slathers all of its promotions with the "Razorback" tag.
Add in the fact we lost the Otago Rebels, our only high-profile netball team, and many of our representative teams and athletes compete under a "Southern" banner, and it appears "Otago" is in danger of becoming extinct in sporting circles.
That would be sad, given Otago sport's decades of glorious history. And it would make it difficult for Otago-based teams to appeal to Otago people on an emotional level.
• Making the cut
That was another typically dominant performance by the New Zealand under-20 team (why has the Colts label been dropped?) at the world junior championships.
An interesting exercise for rugby fans is going back to old age-group teams and seeing which young men kicked on and which disappeared.
I picked two teams, the 2002 New Zealand Schools side and the 2005 New Zealand Colts, and looked at the rosters.
The Schools side featured five future All Black backs (Joe Rokocoko, Luke McAlister, Stephen Donald, Benson Stanley and Ben Atiga) and three future All Black forwards (Jamie Mackintosh, Liam Messam and John Afoa).
There were also some solid provincial players: Scott Cowan, Jimmy Gopperth, Tim Boys and George Naoupu.
But what happened to Chris Aho? And Tai Talaia?
The 2005 Colts had Kieran Read and Ben Franks and Hosea Gear and Andy Ellis and Isaac Ross, but they also had Marcel Cummings-Toone and Miah Nikora and Karl Haitana.
The kid I always think of in recent years is Zarhn Commerer, the New Plymouth Boys' High School flanker with the spectacular name.
He was named most valuable player in the 2005 transtasman schools test, in a New Zealand team that had Sam Whitelock and Sean Maitland and Winston Stanley.
Googling Commerer reveals, sadly, he was in court in March for cultivation and possession of cannabis for supply.
• Mum knows best
There is a nice little follow-up story to the Otago tennis women winning the Nunneley Casket for the first and only time (150 Greatest Moments, Tuesday).
I was speaking to Jeff Wilson, whose mother, Lynne, was part of that team in 1970.
The golden one described his mother as an exceptional tennis player well into her 40s, and recalled their own battles on court.
Jeff, one of the most competitive men you will ever meet, lost every clash until finally beating Lynne for the first time when she was 48.
He promptly informed his mother he was retiring on top and refused to play her again.
• A ton of ticker
Double heart-transplant recipient Erik Compton cannot wait to compete full-time on the PGA Tour.
Compton almost guaranteed full tour rights by winning the Mexican Open last week, Reuters reports.
The 31-year-old American was diagnosed with an enlarged heart as a child and had his first transplant at the age of 12 and his second in 2008.
"I proved I'm more than just a guy with two heart transplants," Compton said.
"To think of what I went through and to have all the support and love of everyone around me, it's almost unreal.
"To be able to say I'll be playing on the PGA Tour only four years after my heart transplant is unbelievable."
- Otago Daily Times
It was always going to be an exceptionally tough sell, this test, even with all the goodwill surrounding the money it hopes to raise for the Christchurch Earthquake Appeal.
The reasons are threefold:
1 We've already said goodbye, at All Black level, to Carisbrook. That all happened last year. That was an easy sellout because people wanted to see the last test at the 'Brook. They got T-shirts made up and they held on to their ticket stubs.
2 Just around the corner is the Rugby World Cup, with no fewer than four big games in Dunedin. It's a fair assumption that both casual and devoted rugby fans are much more excited about that.
3 It's Fiji. And, rightly or wrongly, the Fijians are regarded as cannon fodder on the rugby field. They are asking people to pay $60 to $120 to watch a rugby game they know will be brutally one-sided. The old theory that people go to watch the All Blacks simply doesn't stack up.
I actually have some sympathy for both the Otago union, which is trying hard to promote a game it probably didn't want, and the New Zealand union, which wants to give half a million dollars to Christchurch.
But it would be unfortunate if (a) the real last test at Carisbrook was a half-full dud, and (b) that was seen as seen as some sort of sign Otago people don't support the All Blacks.
• Otago ...
One of the more disturbing trends in sport has been the attempt by organisations to distance themselves from their provincial support base.
That was the biggest problem I had with the stupid Highlanders green jersey. It wasn't the colour; it was the misguided notion the franchise somehow had to separate the team from its provincial background in order to establish a new identity.
What's at the heart of sport, besides the glory of competition and the dual quests of improvement and achievement?
It's identity. Representing something - and somewhere - bigger than yourself.
The Highlanders ditched the "Otago" name a long time ago, and fair enough, given the team has a broader reach. But they must not forget they only exist because they represent the people of the South.
• ... and proud of it
More worrying, two genuine Otago teams - both of whom should probably focus more on winning games - appear to be trying to ditch the name of the province that gave birth to them.
The Otago Nuggets have been in our ear for two years, trying to force us to call them the OceanaGold Nuggets.
And now the Otago rugby team slathers all of its promotions with the "Razorback" tag.
Add in the fact we lost the Otago Rebels, our only high-profile netball team, and many of our representative teams and athletes compete under a "Southern" banner, and it appears "Otago" is in danger of becoming extinct in sporting circles.
That would be sad, given Otago sport's decades of glorious history. And it would make it difficult for Otago-based teams to appeal to Otago people on an emotional level.
• Making the cut
That was another typically dominant performance by the New Zealand under-20 team (why has the Colts label been dropped?) at the world junior championships.
An interesting exercise for rugby fans is going back to old age-group teams and seeing which young men kicked on and which disappeared.
I picked two teams, the 2002 New Zealand Schools side and the 2005 New Zealand Colts, and looked at the rosters.
The Schools side featured five future All Black backs (Joe Rokocoko, Luke McAlister, Stephen Donald, Benson Stanley and Ben Atiga) and three future All Black forwards (Jamie Mackintosh, Liam Messam and John Afoa).
There were also some solid provincial players: Scott Cowan, Jimmy Gopperth, Tim Boys and George Naoupu.
But what happened to Chris Aho? And Tai Talaia?
The 2005 Colts had Kieran Read and Ben Franks and Hosea Gear and Andy Ellis and Isaac Ross, but they also had Marcel Cummings-Toone and Miah Nikora and Karl Haitana.
The kid I always think of in recent years is Zarhn Commerer, the New Plymouth Boys' High School flanker with the spectacular name.
He was named most valuable player in the 2005 transtasman schools test, in a New Zealand team that had Sam Whitelock and Sean Maitland and Winston Stanley.
Googling Commerer reveals, sadly, he was in court in March for cultivation and possession of cannabis for supply.
• Mum knows best
There is a nice little follow-up story to the Otago tennis women winning the Nunneley Casket for the first and only time (150 Greatest Moments, Tuesday).
I was speaking to Jeff Wilson, whose mother, Lynne, was part of that team in 1970.
The golden one described his mother as an exceptional tennis player well into her 40s, and recalled their own battles on court.
Jeff, one of the most competitive men you will ever meet, lost every clash until finally beating Lynne for the first time when she was 48.
He promptly informed his mother he was retiring on top and refused to play her again.
• A ton of ticker
Double heart-transplant recipient Erik Compton cannot wait to compete full-time on the PGA Tour.
Compton almost guaranteed full tour rights by winning the Mexican Open last week, Reuters reports.
The 31-year-old American was diagnosed with an enlarged heart as a child and had his first transplant at the age of 12 and his second in 2008.
"I proved I'm more than just a guy with two heart transplants," Compton said.
"To think of what I went through and to have all the support and love of everyone around me, it's almost unreal.
"To be able to say I'll be playing on the PGA Tour only four years after my heart transplant is unbelievable."
- Otago Daily Times
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