Something so sad
There is really little to add to the whole Aaron Smith toilets fiasco.
All and all the whole thing is sad, bordering on pathetic.
It is sad that Smith went and did what he did.
Sad that someone stood outside the toilet and recorded it.
Sad they went to the media two weeks after it happened.
And sad are some of the stories which have come out of it.
Society in New Zealand has not come out of this one well.
It is a story — All Blacks are news and what they do and see is news.
But what Judith Collins and Hilary Barry think of it is stretching things somewhat.
It is hard to see how the world is a better informed because we now know when the name Aaron Smith peaked in internet searches — as one story told us last week.
So who is to blame for it all?
Well, to be truthful, it is you, me and everyone else.
How many people said after the story emerged — "I don’t care. It is his and his partner’s business."
That is true but everyone still reads the stories.
If they didn’t then the story would die a quick death.
Everyone is fascinated by the trivial and the naughty parts of society.
But no-one wants to admit that fascination.
It is a bit like those boring cooking shows on television.
Ask anyone and they’ll rubbish them.
But they’ll still watch them.
Ratings rule and that is why the Smith story kept clocking up the miles.
A rare nugget
Whatever your take on it, Smith is a great rugby player.
He has been an absolute key for the Highlanders and the All Blacks in the past five years.
The Highlanders have two of the best five players in the Super rugby competition in the Smiths and that is a massive reason why the side has enjoyed success over the past few years.
Smith will not be out of the All Blacks for long, though TJ Perenara has made some real progress in the past six months.
He’s stopped being a traffic cop and concentrated on his role.
Smith, though, is a class above.
Wrong Move
Southern United started its season off with a 2-1 win in a pre-season match against Tasman United in Christchurch last Saturday.
But not all went right afterwards.
The players went to an Irish pub for the after-match function but found out they were in the wrong one.
Obviously there is more than one Irish pub in Christchurch.
But it was not all bad.
The pub was owned by Alan Stroud, who used to play in the South.
He quickly put on a feed for the starving lads and boasted of his southern links.
See, the luck of the Irish really does exist.
What’s going on?
Up in red-and-black land the Canterbury rugby side is leading the Mitre 10 Cup Premiership and also now holds the Ranfurly Shield.
Well done to them but is it right that the province with the second-highest number of registered rugby players in New Zealand fields imports?
And not just one, either.
When halfback Mitchell Drummond went down for the season, Canterbury whistled up Alby Mathewson from overseas.
Are there no other halfbacks in Canterbury?
Mathewson subsequently injured his elbow and is now out so a youngster had to be brought in.
Canterbury also has an Australian at lock, a Fijian prop and some young Englishman on the wing.
The Mitre 10 Cup is a development competition and it is simply not right one of the leading teams — actually the leading team — has so many foreign players in its side.
No blue and gold
Basketball Otago has been through the mill over the past couple of seasons, facing tough financial times.
It is getting back on its feet and working hard.
But it is a shame for the sport it cannot enter a team in any sort of national league.
It is understandable the organisation did not enter a team in next year’s national league which is expensive.
Tauranga did put in an application to enter the league next year but it was turned down.
Otago also decided against sending a team to the second-tier national championship, citing costs and players in exams.
But isn’t Basketball Otago’s job to get players to these tournaments?
It is running basketball academies and sends many age-group teams away to national tournaments — all of which it has to pay for — but should it not be sending the top team away to the tournament?
Hockey is the same — no representation at the highest national level yet plenty of junior sides heading away.
All seems strange.
Surely a top side at the top level should be the first priority for a sports organisation.
Try A Little Tenderness
Please forgive From The Sidelines if it sounds like we’re stuck in the 1950s, but whatever happened to strolling casually back to halfway after scoring a try when your side has no chance of winning the game?
Some of these elaborate try-scoring celebrations, involving perverse forms of limb origami, are tolerable when the win is well in hand.
But please, leave it aside when your team is getting thrashed.
It’s the last thing your supporters want to see.
Irish fiver
How many Irish players does Southern United really need?
The team has brought in five Irish players to boost its ranks this season.
Is From The Sidelines the only critic of stacking a team with overseas players?
If you are a talented young footballer on the fringe of the team then your development pathway has just been blocked.
We cannot see how that is good for football in the region.
What if the Steel drafted in another one or two towering Jamaicans or the Volts snapped up five Australians?
They can’t, of course, because it is against the rules.
Southern United, however, could call in even more foreigners.
The rules stipulate they need to name only eight New Zealand players in the game-day squad of 16.
Well done for losing
Along the same lines is how teams which have poor seasons still have awards nights.
The Warriors must take the cake here. Every year they come out with big talk in the pre-season and every year it all comes tumbling down.
But they still get dressed in their nice suits and march along to some theatre in Auckland to give themselves a pat on the back.
Simon Mannering always wins as he is a good steady player.
If ever there was an indication to not have an awards night is it not the fact Mannering has won the award five times.
After five times surely someone else should get the big prize.
But they can’t because they simply do not play well enough.
But still, well enough to have an awards night apparently.
Farewell
Otago all-rounder Nathan McCullum has almost certainly played his last game for the province.
He had hoped to play in the twenty20 tournament this season but could not reach an agreement with the Otago Cricket Association.
He’ll be 37 when next season rolls around, so it is unlikely he will be sighted in the blue and gold again.
His provincial career spanned 16 years.
He recovered from two golden ducks in his debut first-class match to fashion a useful record.
But his lasting impact will be the athleticism he displayed while fielding and his positive approach to the game.
He could be frustrating to watch.
Some of his dismissals, particularly in four-day cricket, were a by-product of his ambition.
He tried to dominate the bowling before getting established, and From The Sidelines felt he sold himself short with that approach.
But the shorter the format, the more influential McCullum became.
He carved out a place for himself in international cricket as an off-spinner who was hard to get away.
He flourished in twenty20, taking 58 wickets at an average of 22.03, and, more importantly, an economy rate of 6.82.
