SPORTRITE - Just what is it with you rugby supporters?

with Tim Eves
Just in case you were wondering, yes there has been a big black cloud hovering over sports central this week.
A big, grumpy lump of inverted sea mist that would make a Beijing industrialist quiver in fear. Just as well the five-ring circus is under way, otherwise the fallout from the Mad Monday decision from the emotionless heart of our national game - otherwise known as NZRU headquarters - could have been serious.
Without the chance to hear Pete Montgomery yelling ``and they're really l-l-l-l-laying into it now' from the rowing regatta, thousands of Northland rugby fans would have gone completely bonkers.
It is now almost a week since news broke that Northland have been booted out of the New Zealand's provincial rugby shop window for making the place look decidedly tardy and unprofessional and we have yet to hear anyone come up with a reason why a move to Heartland Cup will be, as our great rugby leader, Steve Tew, said, "for the betterment of the game".
And is it just a coincidence that such a monumental and controversial decision about our national sport was announced in between one of Montgomery's "l-l-l-l-laying into it now-isms" from the land of deep fried dog and turtle blood soup?
We are in the middle of the quadrennial sports Olympic-hyperinflation season. First came the headline in a major British newspaper that blared out: "This is why badminton is the best spectator sport in the world", then Tew announced changes that are being made "for the betterment of the game".
Told ya, it has nothing to do with money. Northland had to be cut loose from the motherly embrace of the Air NZ Cup for reasons that include improving the state of the game, lifting the spirit of Rugby World Cup weary rugby-heads, and improving the chance of unearthing more rugby talent from the rural hinterlands of the sport.
Yup, this is all for the enhancement of grassroots rugby.
Still, it has been hard to stem the tide of vitriol aimed at Mr Tew and his disciples in Wellington since Mad Monday.
People have been hatching all sorts of mad-cap schemes and dreaming up theories that, frankly, are just proof that Northland rugby has indeed been living on the lunatic fringe for a while now.
First my esteemed editor carefully approached sports central muttering the word "campaign". At least that's what it sounded like, for some reason he was whispering and wearing a face mask. Remember, he was entering a dark cloud of inverted sea mist, so we couldn't see him until he was within kissing distance.
We know, ewwwwww.
Then the email inbox started to go ballistic, the phone started ringing and things got completely out of control.
Well, this just has to stop. People, it's time to hear the voice of reason.
Do not write stuff like: #@&* You S Tew! in bold letters. Curb the expletives in the emails and text messages.
Hell, there was even a suggestion, made by some underground guerrilla rugby force, that included the words "pitch invasion".
Now come on. That would be the height of stupidity. Rushing on to the hallowed turf at Okara Park just as the ref was about the blow the whistle to start the game against Bay of Plenty next Friday night at exactly 7.34pm, approximately one minute before the game was scheduled to kick off, would fling Northland's disgruntled sporting population into the national spotlight, live on Sky's widescreen format.
Obviously, we can't have that.