Wilson calls for end to Air NZ Cup
By DAVID LONG - Sunday News | Sunday, 23 March 2008
Wilson calls for end to Air NZ Cup - Rugby news & coverage - Stuff.co.nz


All Blacks great Stu Wilson has urged the NZRU to think hard about turning the Air New Zealand Cup into an amateur competition at their rugby summit in Wellington this week.

Several provinces posted large financial losses for the past year and it looks increasingly evident the current 14 team professional competition is unsustainable.

Wilson said it was time the NZRU made some hard calls and made the Super 14 the only professional competition.

"From a population of four million there can only be so many dollars," he said.

He told said only one professional Super 14 competition was needed to feed the All Blacks.

Rugby has been on a downward spiral in New Zealand since 22 All Blacks were pulled from the first half of last year's Super 14.

That was followed by poor crowds at the Air New Zealand Cup and the signs were this year's Super 14 had continued the decline.

"TV viewing figures are down dramatically, so are attendances and that's got to start alarm bells ringing," said Wilson.

"There's the Super 14 where there's 150 paid professionals and underneath that it's an amateur game.

"You could say we'd lose so many players if we did that because they'd go overseas, but overseas teams can only take so many. They're restricted too, so it's not as if everyone's going to pack up and go to Britain to get a lucrative contract.

"You're not going to please everyone, but if you're in governance at board level you have to make some hard decisions."

"You only have to look at BMW, they're going to cut 8,000 jobs around the world.

"You've got 26 unions to appease and it's impossible to get them all on the same side."

When the NZRU set up the Air New Zealand Cup for 2006, it said it would give it three years then re-evaluate the competition.

This year is the last of those three seasons and its future will be discussed at a meeting of all provinces and the NZRU in Wellington on Wednesday and Thursday.

"If you were one of the big five you'd say it (Air NZ Cup) can't carry on like it is because there's too many teams," he said.

"But if you're the Hawke's Bays, Manawatus and Tasmans who've just climbed up, you'd say give us a few more years.

"The unions rely on the big grants from the NZRU but they've got to stand on their own two feet, they've got to be accountable.

"A $5,000 profit for Manawatu may sound small but at least they're in the black and are able to run as a business.

"Other unions are running at a loss and it wouldn't surprise me if the biggest expense at most of these unions is player payments.

"The only way we can sustain our game is to have one professional organisation, which is for the top 150 guys and provincial and clubs sides are amateur.