Have you seen the latest hit on Netflix? It has gone absolutely nuts around the world.
The show follows a massive K-pop-style idol group being hunted by a rival demon band. Their plan is simple: do not attack the singers, attack the people who give them their power — the fans.
One line from the villain stands out: "Let’s go after their fans."
Right now though, rugby seems to be doing the opposite. It feels like the game is saying "Let’s go after the TMO box."
The game has become too complicated, and people are walking away. Plenty I know have ditched rugby for league and the Warriors.
When I ask why, the answer is always the same: it is easier to follow, and it is more entertaining.
Life is busy enough. Most of us are juggling work, kids, bills and everything else. Sport is supposed to be the breather. Somewhere fun, emotional and simple.
Rugby used to be that.
Somewhere along the way, we made it harder than it needs to be. The old rule still applies: KISS. Keep It Simple Stupid. Focus on the few things that actually matter, and do not drown the rest in clutter.
I have refereed for 17 years, including at premier and provincial level.
I still remember my first-class debut in Ōtaki. Nothing glamorous about it. Wairarapa-Bush versus King Country in 2013. I showed up trying to remember every law in the book.
Vinny Munro, who was coaching referees at the time, pulled me aside and said: "Mate, just focus on one thing, the tackler rolling away. The rest will look after itself."
He was dead right. Once I zoned in on that, the game flowed, the players got on with it, and everything looked like proper rugby again.
I have carried that into life as well. Keep things simple, focus on the one or two things that actually matter, and do not overthink the rest.
And that is where rugby has gone wrong. We have made it complicated for the sake of it.
There are now hundreds of laws, interpretations, tweaks and areas of emphasis. It is starting to look more like a tax code than a rule book.
Ask 10 people in the stands why a breakdown penalty was blown, and you will hear 10 different answers. That is a problem.
Rugby used to be a game people could feel and understand. Now even diehards are confused.
Worse than that, it has become over-officiated and bogged down in detail. People do not show up to watch a legal lecture.
Nothing has hurt the sport more than the TMO.
In theory, it was brought in to fix the howlers. In practice it has turned into a forensic lab.
A try should be a moment of joy. Instead, it becomes an investigation.
Slow-motion replays. Multiple angles. A boot stud here, a fingertip there, something from many phases ago.
Players stand around. Fans stare at screens. All that energy just drains away.
We are now so focused on technical accuracy that we have forgotten the whole point, entertainment.
I will say this clearly: I would happily watch my favourite team lose once a year from a wrong call if it meant no more TMO stoppages.
Sport is human. It is emotional. Imperfection is part of the charm. This constant stop start is killing the flow and the story of a match.
No-one walks out of a game buzzing about what the TMO did. They walk out frustrated. And when fans lose the thread, they disconnect.
When kids have no clue what is happening, they pick another sport. Crowds shrink. TV numbers fall. People find something else to watch.
It is not that fans have fallen out of love with rugby. They just do not love what it has turned into.
The fix is simple, get back to basics. —
• Remove the TMO.
• Rugby does not need more rules. It needs fewer.
• Stop the endless delays.
• Stop waiting for someone in a truck under the stand to look back four phases.
• Put the whistle back in the hands of the referee on the field and let the game breathe.
• If you cannot explain a law to a new fan in 20 seconds, it probably should not decide a match.
We should be aiming for flow, not perfection. Fans show up to feel something, not to watch television screen-grabs. Let rugby be rugby again.
It does not need to be dumbed down. Just clearer. Imperfection is still brilliant. Sometimes it is better. It keeps the game real and full of personality.
Right now, rugby’s leaders are chasing a version of perfection that does not exist, and the fans are disappearing with it.
Keep it simple. Get rid of the TMO, back the referee and let the game flow again.
Rugby could learn a thing or two from that Netflix show.
If we are not careful, rival sports will keep going after the fans, and judging by the empty seats, they are already winning.
• Hamish Walker is a former National MP and director/salesman of Walker & Co Realty, Queenstown.
