Editorial: Price just Sky high for match

Tonight's Super rugby match at McLean Park needs no billing.

After bulldozing the Blues last week the Chiefs' confidence is high. In contrast, the Crusaders are smarting after a painful loss to the Highlanders. As build-ups go, these two distinct mindsets are conducive to a perfect storm.

So what else is on offer?

It's one of the few fixtures at McLean Park minus the "C'mon the Bay" soundtrack. While both teams are peppered with Magpies, the occasion's less about parochialism and more about fans' outright passion for the oval ball.

Sonny Bill's facing his former franchise. But more importantly - unlike his recent boxing opponents - he's facing a real athlete in the form of Robbie Fruean. A clash of genuine midfield muscle.

But here's the thing. I don't have Sky TV.

I used to. But it got too expensive. Exorbitant, actually.

Yesterday I told my two boys we'd watch the game at my brother's house. So I texted him to make sure he still had Sky. Nope. So I asked my parents if they were Sky-equipped. Nope. They'd done away with it too.

As have a good number of my friends in the past few years.

A TV decoder has become elite. It's now the domestic corporate box.

Due to the downturn our Sky dish is redundant like hundreds of others dotted on the Hawke's Bay roofline, switched off, signal-less. Like a solitary grey ear cocked to one side, it still listens, hopeful but hopelessly vestigial.

Being a rugby fan used to be much simpler.

As a youngster, somewhere in the late '70s I remember getting up at some unholy hour to watch the All Blacks play England. With heavy eyes I'd join dad on the couch to sip hot Milo under a woollen blanket.

We're talking an international test televised live from 18,600km away. Being a fan cost nothing. Nada. It was easy to like rugby.

If I watch tonight's McLean Park game from my home in Hastings, just 20km away, it will set me back $72.94. A Sky customer service rep told me yesterday on the phone this was a great monthly deal. Normally, he said, there's a $99 set up fee.

It's the price of professionalism. But it's also the price of fanhood, which I find harder to accept.

It wouldn't be outrageous to suggest a correlation between this and the financial rot emerging from some of our unions. It's untenable to maintain a love of the national game when the price of following it excludes you from the fan base.

Here's hoping I'm proved wrong tonight and the McLean Park cauldron simmers hot. Watching Izzy Dagg and Zac Guildford attempt to contain their colossal 138kg Magpies teammate, Ben Tameifuna, is worth the price of admission alone. If it's replayed on Prime TV tonight at some unholy hour, maybe my sons will join Dad on the couch to sip hot Milo under a woollen blanket.