Cricket
Racing
Rugby
Tennis
Football
Combat Sports
Sport Nation
Basketball
League
Motorsport
Golf
Other Sports
As I see it: Three quick fixes to reignite New Zealand's passion for rugby
Brad Lewis • January 24th, 2025 11:00 am
Photo: Photosport
With increasing competition for eyeballs from sports across the globe, rugby in Aotearoa is beginning to slip off the radar in a fashion we've scarcely seen before. Playing numbers are down considerably and attendance continues to be an issue.
Here are a few suggestions I reckon New Zealand Rugby should consider to get the ball rolling on a rugby resurgence, particularly with the next generation in mind.
1. Target the 18 years and under demographic
I will continue to scream this from the mountain top until something changes.
Most kids and teenagers these days don't identify with Super Rugby, NPC or even – yes, that's right – the All Blacks.
The NBA, NFL, UFC, football across the board, and - to a lesser degree - the NRL do a great job in making their product attractive to the all-important under 18s.
Cool kits, players with profile, names on the back of shirts and individual player merchandise are all massive parts of the promotional push for these particular brands.
Messi, Curry, Jordan, Mahomes, even Adesanya - you can buy their signature apparel and merchandise to represent your fandom.
My 10-year-old son owns replica kits of a bunch of his favourite players, including the likes of Auckland FC captain Hiroki Sakai. He knows who Sakai is because the Black Knights do a great job of promoting itself and players.
Therein lies the problem. While he's familiar with the AFC skipper, the only two All Blacks he knows by name are Damian McKenzie and Ardie Savea - and he likely wouldn’t recognise both if he saw them on the street.
NZR is responsible for the growth of the game in this country and needs to recognise it is losing the youth. They need to act now - starting with kits with names on shirts, a quick win that will absolutely have an impact.
2. Daytime rugby
Bring back day time kickoffs and the fans will follow. Why do we still care about broadcast times in Europe?
The best game of rugby last year – at arguably any level - was the Super Rugby semi-final between the Chiefs and the Hurricanes at the Cake Tin, which got underway at 4pm. The most enjoyable All Blacks game for me was the afternoon kick-off against the Wallabies in Sydney.
Hurricanes take to the field for their semi-final against the Chiefs I Photo: Photosport
Make the most of the twilight in the early weeks of the competition with 5pm kick-off, then transition once daylight savings ends.
Broadcasters who own the rights to such content clearly have a huge influence in these decisions, but NZR has a stake in Sky – play hardball with them. Give them one evening kick-off per week.
It’s better for fans, it's better for the product and it's better for parents with kids who aren't in bed until 11pm if you take them to a game on a cold, wet Saturday night.
3. Empower players to speak up
This is the generation of the podcast. Give the players a voice, but not on your own platform where they are likely to be afraid of what to say - let them be their own content creators and give them the reins to say what they want (with a little common sense, of course).
Again, this will attract new faces to your product and - more importantly - your players. Let them speak, have some fun and talk some code – as well as some Taylor Swift, Luke Combs, Yellowstone - you get the point.
NZR needs to realise they don't own our sporting attention outright anymore.
Brad Lewis is the executive producer of Sport Nation's Beaver & Guy - tune in weekdays 3-6pm, find your local frequency here.
