Paul Lewis: Forget the cheerleading, let's get real

It's been a tough year for Manawatu so the recent savaging of the media by their rugby CEO, Hadyn Smyth, should probably be taken in that context.

Mr Smyth had a real crack at the rugby media, accusing them/us of "pessimistic bagging" of the game in a self-fulfilling "doom and gloom" prophecy.

The media, he says "are tainting the rugby brand more than anything... on or off the field".

He accuses them/us of writing tabloid-style headlines that "ultimately sell their medium, not the game" and of writing negative reports on which people base their decision not to attend Air NZ Cup matches. He also maintains that journalists have sought the negative (as in other sides 'played badly' instead of writing about Manawatu playing well) when covering Manawatu and the Air NZ Cup.

"Why should they choose to shoot down and destroy the fan base that has been so loyal and actually keeps them in employment?" he wonders about media complaints of the Air NZ Cup's dullness.

There's a lot more. Apparently, according to Mr Smyth's article, printed in full on the xtra website, rugby journalists are opinionated (usually wrongly), biased, lack objectivity, do no research, deliberately do not report the facts, have no local knowledge, shun local battlers for rugby stars and are killing the game with self-serving negativism. We are not fingered for global warming, the invasion of Iraq, bird flu and the Rainbow Warrior bombing but maybe he just ran out of room...

I would like to make the following point as background to Mr Smyth's remarks: Manawatu did not win a game all season, as predicted. This explains rather a lot.

Here are some excerpts from coverage from the Herald on Sunday regarding Manawatu: "[Manawatu] tackled just about everything that moved, chased and harried Wellington so effectively that the Lions looked more like lie-ins... Their error rate was high. But that does not explain the belief that percolated through Manawatu."

"[Bay of Plenty] lost their way in the second half, as Manawatu performed the basics better."

"I'm not getting at your Northlands, Manawatus, Tasmans and Counties. It's your big blokes - your Aucklands, Wellingtons, even (on occasion) Canterbury who have been below par [in the first round of the Air NZ Cup]."

Mr Smyth is quite right - the first duty of a newspaper is to make a profit. However, it is facile to suggest that a constant diet of put-downs would achieve that end. It is also not the job of the media to be cheerleaders for a sport.

Being all rosy and 'positive' will not persuade rugby fans to go to games if the evidence of their own eyes prompts otherwise.

New Zealand is a nation of formidable rugby knowledge, with fans among the best informed in the world. Rugby writers know they are serving a knowledgeable and critical market. Therefore, Mr Smyth, if it looks like crap, feels like and smells like crap, there is a fair chance it is crap - and gets reported as such. Doing otherwise would damage the credibility of the writer, the publication and the game.

There are plenty of cheerleaders for the ANZC on TV, endlessly proclaiming that a game is "great" when it is patently obvious that what we are watching is anything but. Mindless cheerleading turns off more people than straight-up-the-middle analysis and opinion.

If the media are so doggone down on rugby in general and Manawatu in specific, why does the Herald on Sunday routinely report matches from outside its circulation area - such as Tasman v Manawatu or Southland v Manawatu, for example? No-one in those areas can buy our paper, so it's not for commercial reasons.

The answer, of course, is that fans are interested in analysis, opinions and comparisons. Oh yes, the media are just as prone to error and wayward opinions as the next bloke but, make no mistake, people read it because they want to know if their opinions coincide with ours. If not, they often let us know about it in no uncertain terms - which is just as it should be.

Mr Smyth does the Manawatu fans no service at all with his implication that they do not have minds of their own and are such sheep as to be told what to think by a newspaper.

They have supported their team in numbers in spite of such a losing season. But how long will any enthusiast continue to attend unending defeats?

Which brings us to the function of a rugby CEO. He, too, must make a profit. He does so by creating a business and administrative environment in which a team can grow and prosper - a team that wins the odd game.

There's your solution, Mr Smyth. Win a few games. If Manawatu do that, watch the media reaction to your province and the ANZC. I can promise you it will be almost uniformly positive.

Because it will be a real result and not something manufactured in rugby's fairy-garden happy-land where all games are 'great' and there are never any losers.