Some other musings/ramblings on governance, admin or whatever.
The Blues really should play more matches in Whangarei. In fact I can't really even remember the last time they played there. Wasn't this year, and pretty sure it wasn't last year either. They hosted the B&I Lions, sure, but that wasn't against the Blues. While this isn't a problem unique to the Blues -- none of the NZ franchises seem to play away from their main grounds these days, with the exception of the Chiefs -- given there seems to be a problem between the Blues and their supporting provinces, it's probably much more important to them than the others. I realise the franchises probably don't often take games away from their main ground for financial reasons, but the Blues should just take the hit to the wallet.
Also Counties is still with the Chiefs, but f*ck that shit. Play a game in Pukekohe as well, and work towards getting them back in the Blues fold.
A name change may also be in order. Being named after a colour was f*cking stupid to start with. Particularly blue with it's links to depression. Though it is rather apt at this point in time. At least the Reds can leverage the Communist theme. The other NZ franchises -- with the exception of the weather pattern -- have identifiable brands that they build their marketing and culture around, the Crusaders in particular. The Blues, on the other hand, are named after a colour and feature a volcano that's possibly not all that recognisable to others in NZ, let alone internationally. Rename them after something like the awesome Haast Eagle, and take a leaf out of the Seahawks (NFL) book vis-à-vis marketing. There may also be a case for bringing back the geographic identifiers, but may not go down well at this stage, at least for the Blues.
EDIT: Also, what's Martin Sneddon up to? Seems to be pretty good at sports administration.
