Kiwis Win - But Where was the Crowd?

A Kiwis win over the arch-enemy from across the ditch is one of those sporting moments that New Zealand sporting fans should cherish and remember for a while with plenty of fondness.

After all, historically, the Kangaroos have so often had the wood over the Kiwis with a far superior win-loss record even if the Kiwis have started to show in recent years that they can match them on the big occasion - and more importantly win the matches that matter, i.e. tournament finals.

So, perhaps it is a bit mildly disappointing to see a crowd of only 25,000 plus turn up on Saturday night to watch the Rugby League Four Nations Final at the Cake Tin in Wellington, between the home boys and them Aussies.

Given the rarity of the Kiwis playing a game outside Auckland, given that this was a final and a unique opportunity to see a New Zealand side win a major tournament at home - something that doesn't really happen too often, you'd have thought that Westpac Stadium would have sold out in the week.

Alas, as of Friday, 20,000 tickets were sold with 5,000 walking up in the end for the 8:45pm kickoff - and weather could not be used as an excuse, with Wellington putting on a stunner of a warm November evening.

Ok, international rugby league does struggle to sell worldwide even if the reputation of the game has never been better - never has the game seen more credible competition as witnessed by England nearly upsetting Australia in Melbourne, Samoa almost causing the mother of all upsets against the Kiwis in Whangarei, plus the Tongans, French, Irish, Italians etc.

But in a country which considers itself the 2nd largest market for rugby league, anything less than a sellout crowd has to be considered a bit below expectations.

Perhaps the late kickoff of 8:45pm deterred many families from going - the kickoff time was obviously made for television reasons as it would be 6:45pm on the Australian eastern seaboard and 7:45am in England. The thought of being with a crowd of blue collar rugby league fans at that time of the night on a Saturday probably also came into play.

The lack of marketing of the game probably didn't help with the adverts only really coming in the last fortnight - probably a bit too late for many around the country wanting to come to Wellington to watch an international league test and a final at once. Indeed, for months, only avid sports fans knew about this game being in Wellington, yet there was almost zero build-up about this game until the last month when the banners started coming up around the city.

Contrast this to All Blacks tests which have a fan mile going to the stadium from Queens Wharf and a fanzone and you almost would have overlooked that international rugby league's big night was in town.

That I guess should be put down to the organizers of the Four Nations who probably missed a trick by organizing and finalizing this tournament so late - and missed a chance in really pushing rugby league's claims for superiority in the middle of the North Island.

And it's a chance they can't really afford to pass up much given how much sport is played down here - next week we have the cricket, and then the Wellington Phoenix the week after. Plus the fact, that sport has to compete with the hippies and Green party supporters that make up half the city.

Anyway, well done to the Kiwis and apologies to Steve Kearney who I doubted after that humbling World Cup loss last year. Kearney has bounced back well after a harrowing last couple of years with the failed Parramatta job and that World Cup defeat - he cleaned out the garbage from last year and has instilled some exciting players who will be very strong for years to come.

These are exciting fans for NZ rugby league with more players now plying their trade in the NRL as clubs hunt out the best talent from the schools here, and perhaps putting more of their own countrymen in the shadows - never has a Kangaroos side been this weak and susceptible to injury and this could continue as the old guard slowly retires.

Let's hope when the World Cup comes in 2017 we get much better crowds in New Zealand - the Kiwis certainly deserve the sell out crowds that the All Blacks - and All Whites for big World Cup qualifiers - get.