So where to next?
18 October 2010

Harbour Supporters

Where to next?

That is the question that has been bothering me as I have watched the last couple of games and the slow painful end to our season. With Mr Harris off to pastures new (good on him) and the top seven, bottom seven up next year oh and the matter of a world cup one year away, what lies ahead for North Harbour and those who support it?

My guess is this:

• The Union will work hard to keep players on the books who know that they are unlikely good enough to play in other unions or have currently got a deal that takes them through to next year. The players who stay won't be up to the job but will be a product of the predicament that North Harbour have found themselves in.
• The players in the current club set up will get an opportunity to come through and play for North Harbour due to the fact that they are willing to try and forge a career in rugby and they will be willing to use North Harbour as a shop window for better contracts elsewhere.
• Many of the current North Harbour squad will have to seriously look at their current contract situation and it would not surprise me if at least half a dozen of the current team are not there next year. How will an All Black be expected to play in the bottom seven tier competition? Maybe the union can send in an email and tell us all.
• The hangers on in the administration positions from the top down will do all they can to ensure that they keep their jobs. With the rugby world cup less than 12 months away none of the current gutless wonders will be willing to get off the gravy train when there is one last big event that they can pull in at. I can see them all now, licking their lips at the thought of the tasty food and drink that they can pack away whilst hob knobbing with world rugby's guests.
• The supporters, they will be left to watch the exodus across the coming months and then be charged an entry fee to watch the same old turgid sh*t that has been served up for the last three or four years. This time it will be off the back drop of getting to watch the worst teams in the current competition week in week out which hardly fills me with excitement or gives me an incentive to rush out and buy a new season ticket.
• The clubs will continue to look after their own interests in too many instances and instead of getting together to clean some of the rubbish out at the union, will accept promises and back hand deals to ensure the self interest of their own clubs rather than the greater interest of the union. The clubs are the true power holders and they are the few who can change the union for the better. I only hope I get to witness it happen and that a true leader and strong operations team can be put in place to right the listing ship that is North Harbour.
• As for the coaches, who knows what might happen. They will have contracts that will need paying out if the union decides to use them as the scapegoats for another poor season. If they don't sack both of them the coaches will no doubt be shackled once again to play contracted players ahead of the best players available. In an attempt to keep the books balanced the coaches will be the guys who walk away with damaged reputations and the unfortunate situation of having to work in one of the most dysfunctional unions around. I suspect that the coaches will stay and so will the dysfunction that surrounds them.

And so we come to the end of a season that started with promise and slowly ebbed away into another year of what could have been. The recent capitulation suggests that the word 'team' was very loosely used to describe the collective bodies that were North Harbour's ITM cup team. Too many people playing with their own agendas and not enough togetherness have left the team in an unenviable position of bottom dwellers. That said, much of the blame can be directed to the administrators and bean counters who have sold the union up the river.

Sport is different to business in that often you need a product that has a chance of winning in order that the success that comes with winning often means greater financial gain, just ask the New York Yankees, New England Patriots, Chicago Bulls, Manchester United and Real Madrid's of the world to confirm this. Marquee players and a winning team or at least competing on the highest levels brings support and financial recognition. North Harbour has none of these! Watch our sponsors run for the hills or look to re-negotiate their deals not that we are a bottom seven side.

So, enjoy your last game of the season against Wellington this coming weekend and whilst you watch the game ask yourself this, "will I be here in 9 months time watching North Harbour and who will be on the field?" I am sure it will leave more questions than answers.

Mairangi Murray from the terraces!