You know your sport is in trouble when your heartland starts to lose interest.

And that’s the situation rugby faces in New Zealand – the one country where rugby is king – which is not as in love with the game as it once was.

Yep, it’s hard to believe.

The Kiwis are getting a bit sick of rugby – the Super 14 competition, in particular.

So much so that the back page of last week’s NZ Herald on Sunday, a sister publication to the Daily, carried the heading “RUGBY FANS TURN OFF”, and some statistics to back up its claims.

Inside, there were four pages of analysis on the poor health of the national game.

After nine rounds of this year’s Super 14, the Kiwi television audience – it’s only on pay TV over there as well – had shrunk to a combined 4.1 million viewers, 1.1 million down on two years ago.

The average TV audience per match is 179,000 – 59,000 less than in 2006.

There’s thousands of empty seats at just about every game, especially if it involves the poor-performing Highlanders in Dunedin.

Part of the problem is that many All Black heroes, the drawcards for many supporters, are being lured away from their homeland by the big dollars on offer in the European competitions.

It’s a scenario that could happen in world cricket.

Will the massive money paid by the Indian Premier League encourage young cricketers in any other country to set playing in that competition as their primary goal instead of playing for less money at home?

There’s also a feeling that the Super 14 season is too short, with the Kiwi rugby chiefs joining their Australian counterpart John O’Neill in calling for a longer season and the embracing of new countries, such as Japan and Argentina, and possibly Canada and the US.

They are moves that are badly needed, although perhaps North America is an option for later, to give the competition the shake-up it needs.

While they’re at it, the Kiwis might like to revert to calling their sides Auckland, Canterbury, Otago and Waikato, to give the non-avid rugby follower a helping hand with who’s actually playing who.

And how many Aussies can say where the Cheetahs come from?

Cross cultures

The rugby codes shall cross cultures on Thursday evening when ex-Wallaby and Queensland coach John “Knuckles” Connolly will be special guest speaker at the third get-together of the Men of League’s Full Time Club.

The function, for MOL members and guests, will be held at the Mooloolaba Surf Club from 5-7pm this Thursday.

Anyone interested in attending should advise Tegan Meyers at Tegan@goi.com.au, for catering purposes.