‘Ghost ship’ game sends a warning
The Bulldogs and the Cowboys played an NRL match in Sydney on Thursday night and it was like watching a ghost ship come into dock.
No-one was on board. The stands were empty, bar a few people and a white cat.
The game was supposed to reassure us, offer us some diversion in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.
In fact, it did the opposite, giving us an 80-minute reminder that these are indeed strange and troubling times.
New Zealand Rugby and Sky executives must have been watching on with a mixture of hope and worry.
Yes, games can go ahead behind closed doors but the experience was like a wedding with one person. Can there really be sport without fans?
The players did their best: Jason Taumalolo did Jason Taumalolo things and as a viewer there were fleeting moments when things almost felt normal again.
But it was simply impossible to ignore the elephant that wasn’t in the room – all those rows of empty seats in the giant ANZ Stadium.
The rationale that NZ Rugby is using to underpin the Kiwi Super Rugby derby idea is similar to the one the NRL used for pushing ahead with its season: sport can offer a degree of normality and deliver cheer to people in their living rooms.
They are genuine about that, too. Sceptics will say that it is only about the bottom line but there is a belief within the game, and encouraged by Sports Minister Grant Robertson, that some Kiwi derbies would actually be good for the national mood.
However, there are a few holes in this argument.
First, although we are in a time of national crisis, the national game would still be locked away behind a paywall, with only those with Sky subscriptions able to access them.
If Sky truly wants to be loved, it could offer up the opening round to free to air TV, but that’s another debate entirely. Second, judging by the Bulldogs-Cowboys game, we are as likely to be come away feeling depressed rather than good about ourselves.
NZ Rugby and Sky are walking an incredibly fine line.
They rightly point out that they support a whole range of associated industries, and Sky itself supports a whole range of Kiwi sports with its dollars (although that may say more about the weakness of those sports’ model rather than Sky’s benevolence).
Both parties will also be aware that the AFL, which also staged a game on Thursday night, returned very strong viewership numbers on its free-to-air and pay TV platforms.
But they need to be careful of not overemphasising the ‘national good’ line when there are clearly commercial benefits to both at a time when Kiwis are being asked not attend funerals and postpone weddings.
And even if they do manage to stage these games rugby fans should brace themselves for a challenging spectacle.
The Blues at Eden Park without a flag being waved; the Highlanders under the roof without a single rowdy student; FMG Stadium Waikato in Hamilton without any one in the Green Zone to hurl some choice advice to the opposition goalkicker.
That ghost ship could be coming to New Zealand.
Yes, games can go ahead behind closed doors but the experience was like a wedding with one person. Can there really be sport without fans?