El Niche Cache
May 7, 2021
Podcast
TNC Variety Show - Episode 16
The Niche Cast - Pithy Wisdom (Player Recruitment Yarns)
Reading Menu
Aotearoa Warriors Diary: New Newbies & Defensive Stats (NRL)
Flying Kiwis – May 4 (Football)
Welly Nix: The Sudden Rise of Oli Sail, Starting Goalkeeper (Football)
Exploring Wellington Firebirds Recruitment and Player Development (Cricket)
27fm Album Jukebox – April 2021 (Music)
Scotty’s Word
Would you invest in NZ Rugby?
The Niche Cache covers a range of Aotearoa sports (not all, just our beat) and in doing so, one thing has become extremely clear: the rugby/netball domination is changing. As I said to start the latest Niche Cast podcast, following TNC is a journey of these other sports expanding and we are currently dealing in extreme expansion. ‘Record numbers’ sounds better, I just don’t have a record book ya’know.
The Kiwi-NRL takeover continues to escalate. Kiwi footballers are in nearly every corner of the globe. Kiwi basketball has exploded. Two of the better heavyweight boxers are from Aotearoa, let alone the army of UFC fighters from Aotearoa. I could blabble on and on - these factor in big donnies performing in the best leagues and good stuff happening in Aotearoa.
Granted, I’m not all up in the financial details of the NZ Rugby stuff. I’m merely sharing a different perspective and based on rugby’s plateau in relation to all these other sports growing, I don’t see investing in NZ Rugby as a fabulous business move. Investing in NZ Rugby to save NZ Rugby is different. Then again, rugby has existed with a certain level of entitlement in Aotearoa and non-rugby folk know all about this.
Rugby is growing internationally for sure. Internationally, folks don’t know how the tide is turning at the foundations of kiwi sport and I’m seeing the power of rugby union diminish at all levels. On top of that, broadcasting revenue will not continue to increase as it has done over the past 20 years. Hence, I don’t view it as a wise investment.
Which comes to the core of The Niche Cache. We exist because those tides started to shift a few years back and from that point, every sporting thing we cover has grown drastically with kiwi involvement and kiwi excellence. NZ Rugby does not have the power they think they do and we are seeing a kiwi sports crossroads emerge.
Samoa Rugby League
How did Tonga (rugby league) claim their power? By putting in the effort at a grass-roots level with all the work Hakula Tonga does in hosting tournaments, building rep teams etc within Auckland specifically. So when a seed was planted for the best Tongan players to strictly play for Tonga, this was reward for that hard work as many of these players had been part of various Hakula Tonga teams/tournaments growing up.
Samoa doesn’t do much.
Last week NZRL announced the Aotearoa Pasifika Rugby League Collective. I don’t see any representative from a Samoan organisation listed…
Unfortunately for Tonga and my example, both Tonga and Samoa have suffered various dramas at the hands of greedy figures within their own organisations. For all the great work that the Tongan players did, their governing body was accused by the players as snatching funds and not using them correctly - funds made via the players opting to play for Tonga. That’s why we had the Tongan Invitational team.
Samoa has a longer record of shenanigans in both rugby league and rugby union. In both codes players have treated World Cups as holidays or as in 2011 when team officials were accused by players for hoarding playing gear to then sell themselves. With Samoa Rugby League, the wider playing group voiced frustrations with coach Matt Parish (a year or so ago) and nothing’s changed.
The Tongan exodus from Aotearoa Kiwis has not been replicated by Samoa. Yeah, Martin Taupau grabbed headlines by opting back to reppin’ Samoa but this fits into the ‘twilight years move’ compared to Jason Taumalolo or Siosiua Taukeiaho. Aotearoa Kiwis players like Leeson Ah Mau, Isaac Liu and Nelson Asofa-Solomona have all stuck with Aotearoa throughout this period.
The only similarities between Samoa and Tonga have been greed within governing bodies. Other than that, Samoa doesn’t come close to doing what Tonga does with investing in their junior playing base or as in that NZRL example above - collaborating with other cultural organisations. Tongan players want to represent Tonga, Samoan players want to represent Aotearoa and then Samoa.
To assume that just because this happened for Tonga, that it’s going to also happen for Samoa is super lazy - a bit racist. I’ve seen these two nations go about their work in two different ways within a sporting context and the proof is in the pudding as to who is doing a better job.
Wildcard’s Notebook
Chris Wood scored his 150th goal in English club football the other day against West Ham. A first half penalty which he’d won himself, thumpingly dispatched into the bottom corner. His eleventh of the Premier League season. His 46th Premier League goal overall. Not bad for a fella who grew up in the Waikato. Wood was just seventeen when he moved to England to trial (and eventually be signed by) West Bromwich Albion. That alone is a crazy story but even once he got there it has been a long slog to get to where he is now.
Wood made an unexpected Premier League debut aged 17 years and four months, manager Tony Mowbray subbing him on in the 75th minute away to Portsmouth in a game that ended in a 2-2 draw. He replaced James Morrison.
West Brom got relegated that year, then bounced back up, but Chris Wood spent most of the next few years out on loans of various success. Some were great, like when he scored in the Europa League for Birmingham, others weren’t so flash. Eventually one of those loan teams made him a permanent signing: Leicester City.
But the same thing happened there where once they got promoted suddenly he wasn’t trusted and he actually completed a £3m transfer to Leeds on the first day of the 2015 summer transfer window, the same day that the Foxes signed Roberth Huth, Shinji Okazaki, and Christian Fuchs who would all play huge roles in their stunning Premier League title that season. But The Woodsman found his touch at Leeds. With a new fitness regime, working under strikers coach James Beattie, he blossomed into a genuine goal scoring force over the next two seasons. Then he signed for Burnley and the rest is history.
Club Breakdown
West Brom (2009-13): 3 goals in 26 games
Barnsley (2010 loan): 0 goals in 7 games
Brighton (2010-11 loan): 9 goals in 31 games
Birmingham (2011-12 loan): 11 goals in 29 games
Bristol City (2012 loan): 3 goals in 19 games
Millwall (2012 loan): 11 goals in 19 games
Leicester City (2013-15): 20 goals in 62 games
Ipswich (2015 loan): 0 goals in 8 games
Leeds (2015-17): 44 goals in 88 games
Burnley (2017-now): 49 goals in 139 games
Even at the time that Burnley came in for him though there were doubts over whether he could translate that form up to the highest level. He’d only really proven his abilities at that Championship standard so it was a risk for Burnley to spend a club record reported £16m on the fella. Then again, he’d also hardly been given a chance in the top flight. All ten of his previous PL apps had been as a substitute. Safe to say he’s since put those doubts to bed... double figure goal tallies for a team like Burnley in four consecutive seasons is just straight up fantastic.
Competition Breakdown
Premier League: 46 goals in 131 games
Championship: 78 goals in 223 games
League One: 8 goals in 29 games
FA Cup: 5 goals in 12 games
EFL Cup: 9 goals in 20 games
Europa League: 2 goals in 6 games
Europa League Qualifying: 2 goals in 5 games
Elsewhere here’s Ali Riley having a good old yarn (alongside her teammate, friend, and new vegan cooking show co-host Toni Pressley) with a few NFL icons about a range of topics, big on the ol’ athlete empowerment and whatnot. I found it pretty fun. Ali Riley’s fantastic in these situations. The cooking show launches tomorrow on the same channel, apparently.
Big week of European footy just been. Manchester City vs Chelsea in the Champions League final, Manchester United vs Villareal in the Europa League final, Chelsea vs Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League final. Pretty sure no nation has ever supplied winners to all three of those tournaments in the same year so there’s a hell of a way for England to build up they hype ahead of the inevitably disappointing Euros campaign... although tbh they could have the most exciting/talented squad they’ve sent to a major tourney in years if Gareth Southgate has the guts to make a couple big calls – particularly when it comes to his starting teams. The XI I’d pick:
Dean Henderson | Reece James, John Stones, Harry Maguire, Luke Shaw | Declan Rice, Kalvin Phillips, Jude Bellingham | Phil Foden, Harry Kane, Marcus Rashford
On the bench you’d have dudes like Jadon Sancho, Mason Mount (who can start for Bellingham if you’re planning on being extra attacking), Jack Grealish, James Ward-Prowse, Mason Greenwood, Jesse Lingard, James Maddison, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, etc. But England being England they’ll probably end up with Jordan Henderson, Jordan Pickford, Trent Alexander-Arnold (though you keep him around as a sub for when you need crosses into the box), Raheem Sterling, and fellas like that. There’s a high chance of a back three too which means dropping a midfielder for a CB like Conor Coady or James Tarkowski. Maybe Kyle Walker.
Anyway that’s off topic, I’m thinking more about European club footy and which New Zealanders will be a part of those three major tournaments next season. There’s also the Europa Conference League that starts next season so in fact there are four major tournaments. They’re shrinking the Europas to accommodate that one, groups stages dropping from 48 to 32 teams with fewer in qualifying too.
So in terms of who might partake... Winston Reid’s West Ham are still in the running for Champions League. That’s unlikely to matter since it’s hard to see a path back to the first team for him there, you never know though. Another loan feels most likely yet an extra competition to focus on might required a larger squad and offer him a way back.
West Ham are three points behind fourth-placed Chelsea (who have a Champions League final to prepare for) – though with the defending champs guaranteed to come from the Premier League that means fifth place will probably qualify too – unless both Chelsea and Man Utd win their finals and both finish outside the top four. That won’t happen though. West Ham have games remaining against Everton (H), Brighton (A), West Brom (A) & Southampton (H)... all very winnable. They’re two points clear of Spurs, four clear of Liverpool who have a game in hand (against Man Utd). In the very least West Ham should do enough to hold a Europa League spot.
Obviously Bayern Munich are cruising towards another Bundesliga title and they’ve already qualified for another Champions League with games in hand so if Sarpreet Singh can get near the first team in what’ll be the third and final season on his contract then he’s a possibility of becoming the first New Zealand man to play UCL since Chris Killen nearly a decade and a half ago.
The fella with the best chance is Ryan Thomas at PSV. He’s out injured for the rest of the campaign but the boys are trying to take care of things without him. Ajax are already champions but with three games left PSV have a one-point lead over AZ for second place and a UCL qualifying place. They have three winnable games remaining against Willem II (A), PEC Zwolle (H) & Utrecht (A). PSV haven’t played in the UCL group stage since 2018–19. Even if they don’t hold on, they should still be back in the Europas.
Those are the obvious guys, stepping deeper down the ladder there are folks with a shot at making the qualifying rounds. Logan Rogerson’s HJK will be there from the first round as defending champs of Finland - he’s yet to make a club debut as they ease him in there but fingers crossed by that time he’s a regular. The Welsh Premier League is also up for grabs though Greg Draper’s TNS are trailing Connah’s Quay Nomads by a couple points with only a few games remaining so they might have to suffice with Conference League qualifying instead. Joe Bell’s Viking missed out on European footy after a terrible start to their last season and Libby Cacace’s STVV were just happy not to get relegated but Marko Stamenic, who has made one first team appearance for FC København, still has a chance. FCK are four points back from the Danish UCL qualifying zone with only four games left so the Europa Conference League third qualifying round feels like a better bet but there’s still time.
Barring any transfers, that’s the extent of it for UEFA’s pinnacle competition. Meanwhile in the Europa League… remember that teams that drop out on the path to qualifying that often end up in this pool as a backup so HJK, TNS, FCK, etc are all a shout. That’s mostly how you end up in this competition now with the Conference League designed to satiate the minnows – and that Conference League adds another kiwi into the mix because Ryan De Vries’ Sligo Rovers went on a hot run of form after lockdown last year to finish fourth and thus book a ticket to the ECL first qualifying round.
As for the ladies, there’s only the Champions League to speak of but there will be one New Zealander there as there always seems to be. CJ Bott made a UCL debut at the start of the year for Vålerenga (in a much-delayed knockout) and as defending Norwegian champs they’d already qualified for the next one when they were eliminated from the last one.
There’s a 16-team group stage in the 2021-22 version for the first time which is mostly awesome except that it cuts the competition proper from 32 teams down to 16 teams making it tricky for a team like Vålerenga, who’ll enter in round one of qualifying (the second stage: it goes prelims < round one < round two < group stage). And, umm... that’s it. There are quite a few top flight players around Europe but only CJB plays for a team that wins more than they lose (Ria Percival, Erin Nayler, Betsy Hassett, Hannah Wilkinson, Jana Radosavljevic). Vic Esson’s Avaldsnes came close but finished third in Norway. And there you go.
Meanwhile here’s what Steven Adams has been up to over the last few weeks...
vs Orlando – Exited game with left-ankle soreness
vs Spurs – Played 31 minutes in a loss
vs Clippers – Didn’t play with Right First MTP Sprain (a toe sprain)
vs Denver – Returned but could only last the first half before being ruled out
vs Thunder – Didn’t play due to the same toe injury
vs Timberwolves – Also didn’t play
vs Warriors – Still not available
vs Warriors – Back and raring to go but only lasts 23 minutes before hurting himself on a hustle play where he dove out of bounds to keep the ball in then got and up and went straight down to the locker room and would soon be ruled out for the remainder of the game with... a right first MTP sprain.
Even before that he was struggling with it...
And it was a weird one when he eventually stepped out because he’d just made the big hustle play and the bench, especially his mate Willy Hernangomez, was pumped about it trying to hype him up only Adams was legit hurt and wasn’t really partaking in the cheers. Quick signal to the coach and he was gone... passing Brandon Ingram in the tunnel who also got injured in that game.
Adams is doubtful for tomorrows game against the 76ers having not practised today. If he misses that one as expected then that’ll be five of his last seven games that he’s been out injured for and seven of his last eight games that he’s been unable to complete. The Pelicans are on the wrong side of the play-in qualification placings and pretty doubtful to make up that ground over the last two weeks of the regular season (they have six more games).