OPINION: Have we fallen out of love with rugby? Because if kids are the future, then something is wrong.
There has been a devastating drop in playing numbers over the last five years. In 2018, rugby was on a high - there were 88,000 under-12s playing the sport.
But last year, that crashed to just over 74,000 - a massive 14,000 players gone from the game.
Boys are quitting, with nearly 11,000 of them gone. Girls are dropping out too, with more than 3000 gone.
These are my questions: why are they leaving? And what's gone wrong?
Now, I love rugby but even I am questioning whether that love is as deep as it was before.
Around the country, people say the same. They are having trouble filling teams, their own interest is waning.
I'm calling this 'Rugby's Moment of Truth' because, at the end of the day, rugby is our national game. It's given so much to our national identity.
We would really feel it without the All Blacks and Black Ferns up near the top of the world. But we would also really, really feel it in our communities if our rugby clubs started shutting down. New Zealand would change and that's why this is an issue for all of us.
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So, back to my question, are we falling out of love with rugby? Well, I reckon we are a little bit. They need to make it easier for us to love it.
There's no point in being in denial about this. Whether it's with changes to Super Rugby that Newshub Sport's Andrew Gourdie has drilled into, or speeding up the rollout of the mouthguard technology to help with concussion. Or whatever oval ball issue we choose, there are so many of them.
Rugby's bosses need to get off their butts. The game is under threat and in the case of concussion - an existential threat.
The time for complacency is gone - 14,000 fewer kids in the game is an absolute shocker.
Rugby's bosses need to open up to this, a bit like NZ Rugby CEO Mark Robinson opened up about Jonah Lomu.
I'm not moaning, I just want to love rugby again. I'm putting down the ball, let's pick it up and run with it.
Patrick Gower is the host of Paddy Gower Has Issues.
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