All black Sunday.

Sunday the 23rd of October 2011 will be a memorable day for two reasons. One for the triumphant New Zealand All Blacks. The other for the tragic loss of Marco Simoncelli.

The New Zealand All Blacks celebrated their second Rugby World Cup title by going through the tournament undefeated. A happy occasion for the New Zealand public having to wait 24 years since their last world cup triumph. 

Joy also for the people of the Canterbury region who suffered so much when earthquakes dismantled Christchurch in February and June.

The All Blacks were deserved winners of the tournament with dominant displays against every opposition team they faced, except for runners-up France. In a match that surprised much of the Rugby world, New Zealand held on to defeat Les Bleus 8-7.

After being lucky to scrape into the finals playing some of their worst rugby, France demonstrated they still have the ability to match it with the best when all is well. French skipper Thierry Dusautoir led his team extremely well and picked up the final man-of-the-match award for the tournament. 

But it would be New Zealand captain Richie McCaw lifting the trophy affectionately known as 'Bill' after a fine match that was fitting for a finale. 

Like Dusautoir, McCaw always being a nuisance at the break down, led the New Zealanders with his usual passion, toughness and skill.

As expected the New Zealand home crowd were in raptures following Craig Joubert's signal that the match was complete. Surely the party will last for weeks.

Unfortunately, while the All Black celebrations were taking place, much sadder news to the sporting world was coming through. 

24-year-old Italian MotoGP favourite Marco Simoncelli lost his life. While racing at the Sepang circuit for the Malaysian GP, Simoncelli lost control of his machine and drifted into the paths of Colin Edwards and Valentino Rossi. 

The ensuing collision can only be described as sickening. So violent that Simoncelli's helmet flew off during the impact with the other riders. The seriousness of the incident was quickly addressed as the race was initially stopped and eventually cancelled. 

Fans at the track had begun to throw bottles onto the circuit when news of the cancellation reached them. Had they realised the seriousness of the situation their actions would have been more subdued. With Simoncelli in such a critical condition and the medics tending to him it was not safe to continue the race. 

Marco Simoncelli will definitely be missed in the MotoGP paddock and to many Moto fans across the world. 

My thoughts are with his family and friends and may he Rest In Peace. 

For absolute contrasting reasons, Sunday the 23rd of October was indeed a black day.

TV rights so wrong for some fans

Ah yes, it is that time of year when the pace picks up and the top 8 now becomes 6.

One of the best reasons to be excited by this is the quality of Rugby League that will be on show. Two more teams will exit while the winners go on for their chance at the 2011 Grand Final.

Another reason for NRL fans to get excited is that for the last 4 weeks of the season all matches can be watched live on free-to-air television. So it's certainly a good time be excited.

Unless, that is, if you live in Adelaide. 

Watching NRL games on Adelaide's Channel 9 does take some dedication as games have been televised at 11:30pm throughout the season. Even the 11:30 time-slot has been a pleasant surprise after Channel 9 must have realised showing the nightly 6 o'clock news twice on a Friday was, pretty pointless.  Hence the half hour improvement from somewhere around midnight. 

Even the annual State of Origin series suffers from a delayed time slot. Three matches of prime time ratings potential left to wither in the 10pm shadows. To be fair though, as each game was played, the time was improved an hour so that the deciding third match was aired at 8:30pm in 2011. Just one hour after it could have been played live. 

And so the trend continues into September. Except this time there is added competition.

Usually at the end of the year the only free-to-air competition for the NRL is the AFL, and it's own final series leading to the Grand Final, but this year is different. Channel 9 is practically competing with itself with Rugby World Cup rights just to good to refuse. It's hard to imagine only two NRL matches (from this weekend) could cause so much conflict.

Rather then use their three allocated digital channels, like they did over the weekend just gone, it appears Channel 9 has decided this is a bad idea. Looking at the TV Guide for this week, the Rugby codes will share Channel 9 late on Saturday night. The NRL second semi-final splitting two RWC games starting at, yep you guessed it, 11:30pm. 

This is not only frustrating for the late time slot. The whole situation seems to come from Channel 9 conceding defeat in the face of the more favoured Aussie Rules culture in cities like Adelaide. Television ratings taken from OzTAM point to the fact that outside of Brisbane and Sydney, Channel Seven reigns supreme.  

This is in light of recent newspaper reports hailing the NRL's television dominance this past season.

The NRL's dominance of the television market doesn't seem to extend outside Queensland or New South Wales, and it's subscription TV ratings are purely because the sport dominates the winter season on weekends. Apart from the Super Rugby competition.

With the NRL targeting big money for future television rights, the figures seem to show they could do a lot more at finding a network to better promote the sport. Especially with talk of expansion to Perth. 

Before the NRL can even consider looking at expanding outside their more strongly supported areas, television viewership must improve on a national level. 

But until that day, it looks as though there are more late nights ahead.

Further Reading:

http://www.crikey.com.au/2011/09/12/finals-face-off-afl-pulls-in-more-viewers-than-nrl/

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/nrl-ready-to-cash-in-on-tv-ratings/story-fn6e0tx4-1226131627889

http://www.oztam.com.au/Archives.aspx?Year=2011

http://au.tv.yahoo.com/tv-guide/81/0/#!/81/0/4/23/

Tigers 'growing' toward finals.

Last Friday produced two good games of footy, although the scores were a bit unexpected both games had the chance of going either way.

It was nice to see the Brisbane Broncos mark Darren Lockyer's 350th NRL game with a win but as I watched the Wests Tigers beat the Penrith Panthers, something really stood out.

It was not something that the team did during the game but rather something about their faces which seemed familiar, the facial hair.

Gareth Ellis touches down against Penrith

Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images AsiaPac

www.zimbio.com

Once again NRL followers are seeing a team charge towards the finals with some thick growth around the jawlines. And once again it appears to have some mysterious, winning affect.

The Wests Tigers have now won their last five games and this weekend play the second last Parramatta Eels, who could have threatened the top eight, if they themselves could have wrapped up some good early leads. Round 24 could be the continuation of an excellent run to the finals for the Tigers. Their last two rounds are to be played against, the probable wooden spooners, Gold Coast and another low table sitter the Cronulla Sharks. Particularly handy for the Tigers is Friday night's game featuring the Melbourne Storm at home to the St George-Illawarra Dragons.

With a Dragons loss, the Tigers could jump two places into fifth and would be looking further ahead at a top four spot with a good run over the next few weeks.

The Tiger's new look is reminiscent of two teams, who in seasons past have also donned the facial fuzz. The coincidence being that they too found relatively good form whilst abandoning the razor.

Firstly were the New Zealand Warriors. Who could forget their late season charge towards the finals in the 2008 season. After losing some 'aerodynamics' the Warriors charged home to win 7 of their last 9 matches in the regular season. This culminated in a finals berth with the Melbourne Storm in the first week of the finals. The eighth placed team had never beaten the first placed team since the 'McIntyre' system had come into effect but the Warriors managed to be the first. That season they fell just one game short of the Grand Final.

Warriors skipper Simon Mannering.

Source: Getty Images www.couriermail.com.au

In season 2009 the Penrith Panthers also went through part of the season looking like the Warriors. Although the Panthers were growing their facial hair for a charitable cause (Breast Cancer), they too found good mid-season form. Leading up to their dates with the clippers, the Panthers won 7 from 10 games and 8 from the first 14 rounds when the due date arrived. Even though they had a good start to the season, in 2009 they missed the finals.

Petero Civoniceva combines beard and pink for charity.

Picture: Gregg Porteous. Source: The Daily Telegraph

If the Wests Tigers win this season, could it be power to the beard?

Maybe, but with what looks to be a close finals series in 2011 we will have to wait and see.

Hard Work for Locky's 350th

On Friday the 12th of August 2011, Darren Lockyer will stand alone as playing the most NRL games at a monumental 350. It has taken the champion playmaker almost 17 seasons since his debut for the Brisbane Broncos in 1995 to rack up the record. The fact that Lockyer is a 'one club man' is an achievement in itself, but that does not mean NRL matches get any simpler.

Standing in Lockyer's way for a dream record breaker is the North Queensland Cowboys, who always step up to the occasion of the 'local derby'.

Friday night's game is also important for a number of reasons.

Of course for Darren Lockyer the Queensland and Australian captain breaks the game playing record which will be the major focus of the game, even though it is being played at Dairy Farmers Stadium in Townsville.

The Broncos and the Cowboys who currently sit third and fourth, respectively, on the NRL ladder will both be looking for ascendancy over another finals bound team. This is of particular importance to both teams as the finals are now just four weeks away and momentum counts for so much for teams that want a shot a premiership glory.

The Cowboys always like beating the Broncos and have been fairly successful against their 'big brothers' over the past few seasons. However, this match will see how well the Cowboys fair against a good defensive side. The Cowboys' season has seen them score a lot of points in the second half which has at times won them games, but so close to the finals they will want to get off to a much better start.

North Queensland will also see the return of their co-captains, main man Johnathan Thurston and their major, metre gainer Matt Scott. Both players are of huge importance to the team as both lead from the front. When all eyes are not watching Lockyer, you can bet they will be on Thurston. The star halfback has not seen any match time since a horrific knee injury sustained in State of Origin 3 in July.

How Thurston plays will show how far the people of North Queensland can expect their team to go come finals time.

The inclusion of Thurston does add some level of irony to the match. Just earlier in the year 'JT' was partner in crime to Lockyer in their last Origin match together. At the point in time he would have done all he could to see the Maroons skipper go out a winner.

This time will be different.

Rightfully, the interest level of Thurston's return will be high but this game is all about Lockyer.

Standing alongside the great man is his newly announced successor, Sam Thaiday who will be looking to gain the favour of some surprised Broncos fans. His impact along with the undoubted effort and leadership of Darren Lockyer should see the Broncos lift to give their great captain a win in his record breaking 350th match.

Although it will not be easy, this game is sure to be a cracker.