Tony Veitch: Easing the Halberg headache

Steven Adams, the man with the biggest hands in the NBA? Photo / Getty Images

Here's one to mull over on your Sunday afternoon: Who is New Zealand's highest profile global athlete?

Steven Adams, the man with the biggest hands in the NBA? Or what about Chris Wood, whose return to the English Premier League has been dominating headlines back home?

Does that also bring West Ham defender Winston Reid into the reckoning?

Surely Scott Dixon - Mr Consistent in the IndyCar series - deserves a mention (many a petrol-head will argue Dixon doesn't get anywhere near the recognition he deserves). Lydia Ko will always be right up there, after her prolonged stay at the top of the world golf rankings, despite her continuing slide in the past year or so.

That leads me to the Halberg Awards.

Yep, it's only October and I've raised arguably one of the most divisive sporting issues five months out. But hear me out.

We are missing one basic award which would solve so much of the angst and finger pointing when it comes to recognising and comparing our sporting achievements on the world stage - an award for 'Best Performance by an Individual
in a Team Sport'.

Now that gives the likes of Adams, Wood, Reid, Dixon and Ko, as well as our very own French Open doubles champion Michael Venus, a shot at a gong.

Is a striker in the most popular league on the planet more deserving than a racing driver who's been at the top of his game for 15 years, or a basketball star who is also one of the biggest characters in the NBA?

It's a debate without a clear answer, and one that I'm sure has led to many a beer between mates turning bitter.

I reckon the only way to stop those accusations that Olympic sports dominate our premier awards night is to recognise those Kiwis standing atop their chosen sports, with a little help from some team-mates.

Rant of the week

Can even the most ardent opponents of the America's Cup - those who call it a rich man's sport lining the pockets of fat cats - finally see what this event will bring to New Zealand?

Only two weeks after Team NZ unveiled its protocol for the 36th America's Cup, there has been movement galore from potential syndicates.

New York is good to go, and so is France. There are strong suggestions of another two challengers out of the US, and another from Italy to join Challenger of Record Luna Rossa.
This week, Ben Ainslie Racing all but confirmed they will be in Auckland as well, after entering his team in the world's leading monohull regatta.

To cap it off, Oracle tactician Tom Slingsby is spending the next year as the 'money man' for Australia's return to the Cup.

I know there will be raised eyebrows when close to $100 million of taxpayer and ratepayer funding is put towards building a permanent Viaduct village to host the teams.

But it remains a no-brainer. New York Yacht Club chief executive Terry Hutchinson confirmed on my radio show that his entire team will be based in Auckland for the best part of two years. That's at least 200 people booking hotel rooms, renting properties and spending cash in Auckland.

The next event is heading only one way - back to the glory days in 2000, when the City of Sails was a mecca for world sailing.
2021 can't come soon enough.