As winter departs — and it was not too bad really — we are now in that silly season period.
Clubwise, that is.
The behemoth which is the New Zealand rugby season just rolls on and on.
The days are getting longer and the winter chill has by and large departed.
That got us thinking that, as the climate changes, maybe sporting administrators should get out the calendar and have a tinker around with sports seasons.
Winter sports can start a tad later, while summer could perhaps linger a bit longer.
It begs the question — why do they start club cricket so damn early?
Club games are scheduled to begin on October 1 in Dunedin.
It hardly feels like cricket season when one sits down at Bayfield Park with a wind which appears to have originated on the Ross Ice Shelf coming up the harbour.
Perhaps they should wait a few weeks and get into the white trousers and shirts in November and then go a bit later in the new year.
After all, the sun is still shining well into April, these days.
Winter rules
But once the New Year rolls around, of course, all thoughts turn to football, rugby and netball.
Teams start training way too early — even at primary school age — and it is a rush to get the summer sports season out of the way.
Then the grounds get dampish and everyone gets sick — although cancellations for most sports have been few and far between this year — and before you know it, the season is over.
But perhaps if the winter sports waited until May and then went a bit longer, it would all be a bit easier.
Sure, that would make rep programmes a bit harder to manage, but it would be better for all.
Sometimes it is hard to fathom why sports schedules are all centred around representative programmes when that actually only relates to maybe 10% of the playing population.
Loyal law man
Club rugby players usually get a special acknowledgment for playing 100 games.
But special mention must be made of University of Otago law professor Mark Henaghan, who is believed to have racked up more than 300 games within the confines of the University club.
He first played for the University Colts gold team in 1972.
Some 44 years later, he is still turning out on the field, his latest game playing for the Law Vultures side this year in the University social grades.
Henaghan reportedly got round the paddock and made the odd pass in one game.
But he only lasted about 15 minutes, not because he was injured or had run out of steam — he had to go and give a lecture to some nursing students.
Small boy at the table
There was some obvious stuff which came out of the Deloitte report into the state of the 14 unions which compete in the Mitre 10 Cup.
Gates have halved in a little over five years, player wages are slowly coming down and Auckland has the most money of any of the unions.
But one fact which surprised was of the 14 unions, Otago records the lowest revenue.
It is in the black in working capital, but every other union across the 14 earns more than Otago.
Not surprisingly, Auckland and Canterbury are well ahead.
Otago, though, has the issue of having to compete with the Highlanders to drag in money and sponsors, and that does hurt the union.
But it is cutting its cloth to meet what is coming in — by and large — and the ship is in good order.
Social
Otago was top in one category — it was the leader in social media.
But how does that translate to getting more people through the gate?
It is all well and good having people following you on Facebook and Twitter, but if they are not going to the game, one wonders what is the point.
Grand stuff
Hats must go off to Caversham for what was has been a top line season for the club’s premiership team.
To win 23 out of 24 games in the entire season, winning all 18 games in the Football South league, deserves a standing ovation.
Racking up all those wins is not easy in a game like football, when sides can park the bus at the back and put numbers in defence.
Caversham, though, managed to break it down and have set a mark which is not believed to have been matched in any league in New Zealand.
They must be a very good candidate for team of the year in next year’s Otago Sports awards.
God defend our anthem
Thankfully, New Zealand isn’t like the United States, where the Star Spangled Banner gets rolled out more often than pastry at a pie shop.
Instead, God Defend New Zealand is generally only saved for sombre memorials, international sporting fixtures and the occasional school assembly.
So that makes the hijacking of the game between Otago and Northland a week or so back even more galling.
It appears the performance from a radio announcer was the result of a bet she lost with her co-host (we’re not going to give them the pleasure of mentioning their station).
There is no point bagging the performance because it takes guts regardless, but if they want to play their little games, shove off and do it in their own city.
The integrity of the whole competition gets cheapened by publicity stunts like this.
Another one bites the dust
Winter tournament week has been and gone for another year for secondary school pupils.
The tournament week is a real experience for pupils and is something that will be cherished long after they leave school.
About 25,000 pupils from right round New Zealand get to take part in some sort of sporting activity.
The only puzzling thing is that after all these tournaments and activities, in three years’ time most of those who have taken part will have given up the sport.
Chiefs circle wagons
If even a portion of what is rumoured to have taken place during the Chiefs’ Mad Monday celebrations is true, then the response from New Zealand Rugby has been pathetically weak.
The national body issued a formal warning — the equivalent of a slap on the wrist — to the entire Chiefs’ roster after its investigation concluded the players had acted inappropriately by hiring a stripper.
No individual will face further action, though, as the inquiry found the allegations of sexual assault to be groundless.
Scarlette, the exotic dancer who made the complaint, said she was "disappointed but not surprised" no real action would be taken.
Sexual violence advocate and rape survivor Louise Nicholas was not surprised either.
She condemned the investigation as self-serving and does not believe Scarlette got a fair go.
New Zealand Rugby should have engaged somebody independent to conduct the investigation into the crude behaviour.
Different levels
The new expanded New Zealand football premiership gets under way next month.
Southern United is busy assembling a squad and will have a couple of squad games and then hope to have friendlies against other South Island teams.
But other sides are mixing with the elite.
Auckland City is taking on A-League club Melbourne City in a warm-up match.
That is in a completely different class to slogging out a game at De Carle Park.
