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Posted at 11:00AM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

The jersey thing is a bit classless, really. Unless they are laced with performance enhancing drugs or something.

Posted at 11:27AM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

Especially after we heard the wonderfully heartwarming story of the aftermatch football (soccer) match and Rokocoko getting a whole Portuguese strip.

The American NFL used to be pretty poor at web coverage but now you can highlights of EVERY game + interviews + special one offs + all sorts in flash format (thank god they gave up on Real Media)

Posted at 11:36AM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

So who owns the digital rights to TRWC?
The jersey thing is so wrong. Me Dad, who is over there bless him, ended up playing for 8 (count 'em) 8 provinces, played the Lion's, played for Harlequins and all that.
We had all these choice jersey's in an old glory box that we could practice in (random selection, hmmm I'll play in Wellington colours today...). Swapping jerseys is the highest freaking honour you can give to your opponent, it says alot, let alone if a jersey ends up on a clubroom wall beside your life member inscription.
Addidas, jeebus, what the hell do they know.

Posted at 12:02PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

And aren't socks and shorts a bit smelly?

Shirts have the armpit bits! Those new All Blacks shirts seem pretty snug and I'm not sure if I'd relish getting a shirt soaked with pit sweat.

Posted at 12:05PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

So who owns the digital rights to TRWC?

The somewhat ghastly rugby world cup website has free daily highlights of each game and a subscription service where you can watch every game and all the highlights. Besides that there ought to be regional right holders too, but I'm not sure who it would be for our neck of the woods.

Posted at 12:25PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

To repeat the general sentiment, the jersey thing is indeed lame.

Regarding web coverage: What do the IRB hope to achieve but bad publicity? Sure sure, protecting their intellectual property, blah blah, but how do they hope to grow the game into new markets if the only way you can see it in a place like America is to spend hundreds on web coverage. If I wasn't a fan and had stumbled across a RWC reference and been intrigued, I don't think my interest would have stuck around for the hour or so it took me the other day to discover that, no, I'm not allowed to watch even five minutes of highlights of the biggest brand in world rugby putting on a try scoring display. Thanks IRB.

(Unless I'm missing something, the daily highlights are only available to RWC pass holders, ie, they're not free. Pleeeeese correct me someone!)

Hamish,
A kiwi in LA.

Posted at 12:30PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

The somewhat ghastly rugby world cup website has free daily highlights of each game and a subscription service where you can watch every game and all the highlights.

Where did you find the free highlights? I could only see pay-per-view video, Windows and IE only (ie: Windows Media DRM) on 24 hours delay. Full match replays are via Mediazone. It all costs $US49.95 for the tournament, or ppv $3.99 to $9.99 per match.

I've used Mediazone before, in the US, and it was a handy service, but locking up even highlights seems crappy.

The IRB is looking to protect its own revenue by denying everyone else internet video rights so it can try and sell video directly. The fans don't really come into it.

Posted at 12:30PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

We had all these choice jersey's in an old glory box that we could practice in (random selection, hmmm I'll play in Wellington colours today...). Swapping jerseys is the highest freaking honour you can give to your opponent, it says alot, let alone if a jersey ends up on a clubroom wall beside your life member inscription.
Addidas, jeebus, what the hell do they know.

I'm with you on any ban on swapping jerseys being not on. It shouldn't be compulsory, but it shouldn't be banned. Portugal played with great heart, spirit, and passion. Fully deserving of taking home a black jersey to treasure, if the All Black is willing to give it up.

I presume that, unlike a lot of less wealthy national teams, the All Blacks get a new top every game. And from the news story I saw before they left, half-a-dozen pair of shoes, several sets of clothing, hats, etc etc etc. At the very least, if they give some tops away, they won't have excess baggage on the way home.

Posted at 12:38PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

According to TV3, whom I queried regarding this as part of the aforementioned hour of searching, the IRB has retained all online video rights.

Besides that there ought to be regional right holders too

There isn't really any need for regional rights holders for online content.

Posted at 12:42PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

The silver-grey AB jerseys they will wear against Scotland would seem to be highly collectible ...

Posted at 12:48PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

Addidas: OK all you boys line up nicely for your shwag, bigger sizes to left, mind the camera crew, Byron, you'll be doing a little vox pop, take your shirt off on cue please. Come on coaches you get TV interview tops too you know, plus you must wear them in the stands during matches, no smiles please!
AB's: God this is demeaning, Canterbury would never have done this to us...
Ghost of Blondie; Shuddup you fool.
Addidas; Now boys, very good, don't wreck the gear, it's ours (whispers, like you are), so no giving away your tops except in our staged events for camera sessions, and then only the socks and shorts, they're yours. Count yourself lucky, HQ has told us the beards and mo's must go, but we're going to let you keep them, for now.
Have a nice day!

Posted at 12:53PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

(Unless I'm missing something, the daily highlights are only available to RWC pass holders, ie, they're not free. Pleeeeese correct me someone!)

Sorry, my bad, indeed they are. I looked into it a while ago and had understood that on the day of the match they would be free.

Locking up the highlights seems indeed excessive (unless perhaps it's the sumptious extended highlights of the UEFA champions league). Besides the NFL (and NHL), the soccer world cup last year is another tournament that gave away for free, in spite of the fact they had negotiated the most expensive national rights packages ever.

Posted at 1:23PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

There isn't really any need for regional rights holders for online content.

Lots of sports highlights and events can only be viewed in certain countries. The CBC coverage of hockey and the Italian Serie A highlights come immediately (and painfully) to mind. Two soccer world cups ago I couldn't listen to the Italian national radio broadcasts for a whole month (not just the game commentaries - the whole thing) because they blocked overseas listeners for the duration of the tournament.

For this RWC there is an exclusive North American web platform - I wonder if it means that people in North America can't purchase the service from the RWC website.

Posted at 1:44PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

Addidas: OK all you boys line up nicely for your shwag, bigger sizes to left, mind the camera crew, Byron, you'll be doing a little vox pop, take your shirt off on cue please. Come on coaches you get TV interview tops too you know, plus you must wear them in the stands during matches, no smiles please!

How long before the 'Addidas' on the right breast is nestled alongside the 'All Blacks' on the left? Even the alliteration works.

Posted at 1:50PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

The RWC on Mediazone is not available in UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Greece, and Cyprus. Mind you, even in in Japan, we're getting wonderful coverage through cable TV. Also ealizing that a cable package installation includes broadcasting, internet service and IP telephone services for $100 a month makes it all tast pretty sweet.

Following the cricket world cup through the internet was much easier. And the previous limited overseas series amongst Aust, NZ and England was an excellent deal through the ABC.

Posted at 1:56PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

While I'm on it, anyone else feel despair when the AB's are forced to do promo's for Ford and Telecom (in our house, Fix Or Repair Daily and Wankacom), would someone please negotiate for the players to get pre-script review and plain refuse to do anything promotional on TV that makes them look,
a. plain silly (the little figurines TVC)
b. totally demeaned (on the couch with Anton and friends!)
I predict a break away franchise in the not too distant future. Meanwhile, perfumed performance jersey's to come to a screen near you, providing the AB's with a sweeter smelling WC victory! by (insert brand here).

Posted at 2:43PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

God this is demeaning, Canterbury would never have done this to us...

Nope, but Canterbury are responsible for the handy sports bra attachment in the Wallabies & Springboks jerseys that look so godawful....

I believe Haka has an opinion...

http://www.haka.co.nz/haka-column.php?column_name=Hard%20Yards&category=ab

Posted at 2:52PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

There isn't really any need for regional rights holders for online content.

No, not a need, but it does happen.

Yahoo has some sort of agreement to show NHL Ice Hockey games. They use ip addresses to limit it to North America. I presume that is because they've only bought rights for that region (or a TV company has, and they've pushed the online rights onto yahoo for the region).

Posted at 2:55PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

While I'm on it, anyone else feel despair when the AB's are forced to do promo's for Ford and Telecom

That's not even the half of it - count how many times per ad break the All Blacks sashay into your lounge, it's feckin loads, especially in 'prime time'

I do like that one where the guy in the cardboard box gets to go fishing, to France etc with the team - surely everyone wants to do that?

Posted at 3:31PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

I do like that one where the guy in the cardboard box gets to go fishing, to France etc with the team - surely everyone wants to do that?

Where do I know the actor who plays that part from? He's familiar from somewhere else, but not being able to remember is starting to annoy me.

Posted at 3:33PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

Jersey non-swap: mean eh!
+ kind of embarrassing (as was the recent story about Canterbury NZ incorporating successfully some high tech biochemical stuff in their jerseys, increasing performance of some other teams).

On that note Richard, check out how Adidas have been claiming all of the Maori ancestry/mana kind of themes in their print and TV stuff. Isn't it a pretty highly-regarded value in Maori culture to be generous with gifts to respected other groups?

– – –

Internet sucks for most big sports events, especially if you are on a Mac. But can I say who cares for this event? C'mon guys, it's free all over TV3: you get a nice big screen, no bandwidth issues, and it's free. You just have to put up with that gormless potato-face Hamish McKay.

Posted at 3:45PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

Where do I know the actor who plays that part from? He's familiar from somewhere else, but not being able to remember is starting to annoy me.

He's not the guy from No.2 is he?

C'mon guys, it's free all over TV3

Unless you are overseas, don't own a tv, or even can't get tv3 (like half the houses I've lived in in Wellington).

I mentioned the NFL earlier. They also retained online video rights but used it to drive traffic to their site (with free highlights etc) and then make money off advertisers and selling full games. Still not the best option though.

I can only think that the IRBs idea for the RWC will only drive people to the torrents.

Posted at 4:10PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

My sources also tell me that Jerry Collins is scaring all and sundry in the All Black party with his intensity and level of training. It would appear that he is keyed up for the tournament.

Thats what we want to hear!! - Go Jerry! (bet he wanted to swap his jersey)

Posted at 4:18PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

Addidas: Jerry it's come to our attention you want to swap your jersey.
Jerry; What's that you say?
Addidas; Look Mr. Collins we don't want this to get, er, problematic, but we need to remind you and the NZRU that in the event that you attempt, consider or sponsorship forbid, actually swap your jersey during this or future events as deemed by the parties otherwise known as The Sponsors Of You're Ass, we would have to consider the ultimate penalty...
Jerry; Wha? What ultimate penalty.
Addidas; We won't give your Masters the IRB, Masters of the NZRU, Masters of the players...your mojo back. We have it, right here in the jar your overlords gave us for the said lovely kit, that we provide, at great expense to ourselves to yourself.

Posted at 4:30PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

Merc you forgot the stage direction

Jerry; Wha? What ultimate penalty.
(Jerry raises his right eyebrow in question, he begins to crack his neck and knuckles)

Posted at 4:31PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

ps. have we all seen the interview where Jerry says "France is nice, but I'm not here to learn French I'm here to win the cup"

Posted at 4:45PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

Silver Fern
New Zealand (1893 - 1985)

Silver Fern
New Zealand
All Blacks (1986-2003)

Silver Fern
All Blacks (2003-2007)

Silver Fern
Adidas All Blacks (2008?)

Posted at 5:13PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

I remember right a the end of the Portugal v NZ game, seeing Rodney being asked by a Portuguese forward to swap jerseys, Rodney tugged on his own jersey and motioned "back in the change rooms bro". I can only imagine the dismay when he gets a grotty pair of Socks and Shorts.

Poor, very very poor.

Tell you what, anymore wanky Telecom, Ford, Weetbix, (am I missing any other corporate dicks the AB's have to polish) ads from the AB's and I'll switch to league fulltime.

Go to the Allblacks.com site and email the team about the Jersey swapping Bullshit. I'm sure if the find out enough of their 'mana' is being degraded in the eyes of the fans. I'm sure they'll do someting about it.

On the Web coverage issue. IRB and ICC all drink from the same cup of fecklessness. Reminds me of a great book title: An Utterly Impartial History of Britain or 2000 Years of Upper Idiots In Charge.

Posted at 5:45PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

Jerry to Addidas...
Jerry: Lucky for you little sponsor man, that's not my mojo you've got there, otherwise I might have had to come for it.
Addidas: Um, fine Jerry, we good now?
Jerry: We'll be just fine when I hand my jersey over to who ever I reckon may have played well enough to earn it (and survived), and that's a big call that you'll never understand little add-nothing man.
Addidas person calls other sponsors for a wee cry.

Posted at 6:15PM on 18 Sep 07. Permalink.

That jersey thing is just wrong. Does anyone else get the feeling this campaign is going the way of the cosseted 5-star aloof failed campaign of 1999?

What is it about Adidas All Blacks when they get to France?