RaceCafe..#1...Tipsters Thread.... Share Your Fancies For Fun...Lets See Who The Best Tipsters Here Are.
teletubby

all whites must be

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on target for the sportsman of the year award..

the all blacks are ok but what the all whites did the other night was great..the nation really got behind them...

and even if they don;t acheive high status at the world cup their goal was reached by finnally getting to a world cup my view .. these guys deserve it...

the sport must pick up on this win and run with it..

the worlds their oyster ..go for it.

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For once I agree with you. With the numbers of registered players football has compared to rugby (several thousand more neck and neck with netball), they should have a higher profile and better outcomes. One problem has been that many of those registered players are juniors and get lost to rugby and other codes when they get to secondary school age. Some return but many do not.

Also the opportunity to capitalise on the 1982 World Cup side was lost when the top tier imploded and the officials turned on each other in an internal power struggle just at a time when they were riding high and rugby was on the back foot after the '81 Springbok tour had dented it's appeal to many.

Hopefully they have learnt from that and will use the opportunity to go forward as Aussie have done from their appearance at WC finals. What Football NZ are saying indicates this is the case, where they had planned and allocated the money for future development (especially youth devpt) from the WC appearance even before the game against Bahrain. There appears to be a more coherent plan for the future from what I can see as well as the experience of a couple of stints qualifying for the Confederation Cup as well and some creditable performances against much higher rated teams.

Good thing about this WC qualifying was that we didn't rely heavily on British expat players and a couple of local standouts like the Rufer brothers but now have our own pool of home grown talent several of whom have shown they are world class and up to some of the stronger leagues around the globe. Also the having an NZ based professional side -The Phoenix - in the Aussie League has made a difference too.This side is a better one then the 1982 one in skill levels and all round ability. As you say anything from here on at the WC finals is a bonus as they have in effect won their's already. But would be great to get to the second round though - the youth team has already set a benchmark there making the quarter finals in Nigeria (and finally being knocked out by the defending champs, home side and eventual runners up).

This probably really belongs in the sports forum but then such an achievement probably warrants a place in the general one. It don't happen every year.

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