Aussie whinge gathers momentum
[EDIT:From keo.co.za. Read some of the 350+ responses from Saffas and some kiwis! Absolute gold!!]
Aussie whinge gathers momentum
Monday 9 July 2007
John O’Neill waited for the Wallabies to beat the Springboks before lashing out at South Africa.
The reappointed Australian Rugby Union CEO had been conservative in his comments prior to the test, but once his Wallabies had stumbled past the winning post, he added to the hysterical nature of the ongoing debate about whether or not there was a future for SANZAR (the SA, NZ and Aus rugby union partnership) beyond 2010.
O’Neill accused the South Africans of costing the ARU money on ticket sales and said the game was at least 10 000 down in attendance because the Boks had left 20 of their leading players at home to prepare for the World Cup.
He also slammed Jake White’s post-match comments in saying the decision to leave 20 Boks at home was vindicated because of the injury to Bob Skinstad.
The Sydney Morning Herald described O’Neill as being incensed by White’s remarks.
O’Neill said: “Some of the stuff Jake White has said are the most extraordinary of contradictions. He is basically saying that because Bobby Skinstad has a broken rib, that supports his decision to leave all the players behind. He is basically saying that his only objective this year is the World Cup. He has made it clear that whatever he has to do in between - so be it.
“South Africa, they just don’t get it. Clearly, we could have had Stephen Larkham injured on Saturday night, but we played him. What White’s basically saying is that he’s glad that he left all the really good players behind, because instead an average player got injured.”
O’Neill also blamed the poor 51,174 crowd figure on the Springboks not playing their best line-up.
“The original budgeting for this Test was around 60,000, and I think that’s probably about the right number,” he said. “It was only a couple of weeks ago that the Socceroos played Uruguay in a friendly, and got 63,000. If you had said to someone three years ago, ‘Can you imagine a Socceroos friendly getting a bigger crowd than Australia versus the Springboks?’ they would have laughed at you. I reckon we were about 10,000 underdone.”
O’Neill added that the SANZAR meeting, which starts on Thursday, was one of the most crucial in SANZAR’s history. “We have to start thinking about the future of SANZAR,” he said. “Given that we are already two years into a five-year broadcasting deal, we need to be in a state of preparedness in about 12 months where we have a fair idea what the future is for SANZAR.
“We’ve got to sit down and sort out where SANZAR really wants to be. When the original SANZAR deal was done, it was really a 15-year deal because while it was 10 years, News Limited had a first and last option for a further five. So in terms of content, it was always a 15-year deal.
“The first opportunity for SANZAR to think about something radically new will arrive when this five year deal is over at the end of 2010.”
